August 06, 2012
KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 6 — PKR’s Rafizi Ramli has refused to stop
going public with his revelations on alleged corruption in the
government despite facing two court charges today for his exposes that
could land him in jail and set him back millions of ringgit and a shot
at a Parliament seat..
The young leader told The Malaysian Insider that if he had
not soldiered on with his work, scandals like the National Feedlot
Centre (NFC) “cow condo” controversy and the Ampang LRT deal would not
have made national headlines.
He dismissed Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s reasoning on
Friday that charging him over the NFC had been necessary as he had not
gone through the rightful channels with his revelations.
“We did go to the relevant authorities. In fact, in the case of the
NFC we went to the police and even to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption
Commission (MACC).
“It was wrong of him (Najib) to say I did not go. If you remember, I handed all my information over to the police,” Rafizi (picture) said in an interview.
Rafizi and his PKR colleague Zuraida Kamaruddin are scheduled to
square off this afternoon with former minister Datuk Seri Shahrizat
Abdul Jalil in a RM100 million defamation suit filed by the Wanita Umno
chief over the NFC scandal.
Shahrizat, who lost her ministerial post earlier this year when her
senatorship expired shortly after the scandal hit media headlines, has
sued both PKR leaders for accusing her of misusing the RM250 million
federal loan meant for the national cattle farming scheme.
But his alleged defaming of the Wanita Umno chief is not the only thing that has landed Rafizi in the soup over the NFC.
Rafizi is also facing the prospect of a maximum RM3 million fine and
three-year jail term for violating the Banking and Financial
Institutions Act (BAFIA) after he exposed confidential banking details
of the National Feedlot Corporation (NFCorp), the firm that runs the NFC
project.
A conviction for the offence would seriously hobble Rafizi’s chance
of standing as a candidate in the 13th general election that must be
held by next year.
On Friday, Najib appeared to dismiss claims that Rafizi’s charging
would frighten away future whistleblowers when he said that the PKR man
could have revealed details of the alleged scandal to authorities like
the MACC.
Based on previous cases, Rafizi said he lacked confidence in
government agencies like the police and even the MACC, which is a
statutory body independent of the government.
“On the real whistleblowing information regarding the NFC, we
reported to the MACC before we disclosed in public about the purchase of
the condominiums. We gave ample time for response, for investigations,”
he said.
But, he said, the authorities’ probes would either take too long to
be resolved, turn up dead leads or be closed quietly when public
attention whittles down.
The young PKR man, seen today as the man of the hour, had led the
relentless campaign to expose the alleged mismanagement in the handling
of the NFC, a RM250 million federally-funded cattle farming national
project that went awry, even according to the Auditor-General.
The firm running the project — NFCorp — is owned by the Shahrizat’s
husband Datuk Seri Mohamad Salleh Ismail and the couple’s three
children.
Rafizi pointed out that although he had repeatedly raised the
question of conflict of interest in the award of the NFC project to
Mohamad Salleh’s company when Shahrizat was still in Cabinet, it was
only the NFCorp chairman who was charged in court with wrongdoing.
On May 12, Mohamad Salleh pleaded not guilty in the Sessions Court to
two counts of criminal breach of trust involving RM49.7 million with
regards to the purchase of two condominium units.
“At one point, the cops responded by saying that the case was closed.
And imagine... after three weeks of no positive response from the
authorities, who could blame me for losing confidence in them?” Rafizi
said.
Similarly, the PKR leader said that in his exposes on the award of
the RM1 billion Ampang LRT extension contract to the George Kent
consortium, no speedy action had been taken by the police although he
had lodged a report.
“So I had to decide — as a public official and an office bearer in a
legitimate opposition party, I must make a decision in the best interest
of the country... which is to expose,” he said.
“I think right now it returns to the question of credibility because
record-wise, BN has no good record on taking action against corruption
and mismanagement in the government,” Rafizi added.
He said that the common fear among whistleblowers, despite the
enactment of the Whistleblowers Protection Act in 2010, was that they
would have to take the fall if they dared to expose information to the
public.
“If Najib is really serious about combating corruption, he has to
accept the reality — it has only been through public disclosure that we
saw any action against Shahrizat, against the NFCorp.
“So unless we have better means, I do not see any other way than to keep going to the public,” Rafizi said.
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