Malaysia gets tough on corruption

Malaysia's ruling party charged a Cabinet minister with corruption last night, as Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi stepped up his campaign to root out corruption.

Federal Territory Minister Isa Samad, a vice-president in Abdullah's United Malays National Organisation, was summoned by the party's disciplinary board on charges that he breached its code of ethics during internal elections last year.

He reportedly also faced a charge of "money politics", which refers to the offence of using cash or other bribes to obtain political support and votes to win key party posts.