PKR deputy president Rafizi Ramli’s move to challenge Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Abdul Latiff Ahmad to sue him over statements he made over Latiff’s involvement in the littoral combat ships (LCS) project is a mere ruse in a bid to save face, said Umno leader Mohd Puad Zarkashi.
The Umno supreme council member said it is simple enough for Rafizi to obtain a copy of the marriage certificate of Latiff and the woman said to be involved in the LCS scandal.
“Rafizi is an expert in stealing information. That’s why he was implicated in a Banking and Finance Institutions Act (Bafia) issue,” Puad quipped, referring to the charges against Rafizi following his expose in the National Feedlot Corporation matter.
“As such, it is impossible that he is unable to steal the marriage certificate of Latif and the woman named Zainab Mohd Salleh.
How strange that the former defence minister is leaving it to this United Mafia colleague to speak up on his behalf.
Even stranger is the suggestion that respected opposition leader Rafizi Ramli should somehow “steal” his marriage certificate. This, Puad says, would be “easy” in order to prove the name of the ex-defence minister’s wife (maybe for these practiced crooks it would be).
So far, all the actual ex-defence minister has done so far is to make clear that another lady of an identical name is not his wife. Why doesn’t he pull his own marriage certificate out of the family papers in his closet to make the further point that he is married to nobody of that name himself? Why force Mr Rafizi to prove such a matter by committing a crime?
Do these UMNO folk want to pull everyone into the same boat as them with a list of crimes to their name? Granted, Rafizi has committed acts in the public interest registered as crimes by UMNO e.g. by criticising the United Mafia and revealing their criminal secrets in the past.
But breaking, entering and stealing? That is an UMNO sort of crime, beneath the vast majority of upstanding folk.
Meanwhile, the ex-minister and all concerned ought really to be jumping on to this matter instead of bickering. What Rafizi has revealed and no-one has yet disputed is that SOMEBODY with a female Malaysian name was the owner of two off-shore companies in Labuan and BVI that were masquerading as subsidiaries of a French supplier to the LCS project recommended by Najib’s pals at DCNS.
It certainly looks like a classic Najib/Jho Low scam, a known signature of the 1MDB scandal that went before (except it seems it is more a United Mafia ruse than anything special to Jho Low). The MO was so simple that the only way it could ever remain covered-up was through a powerful government sitting on the evidence.
The Paris company received RM3 million for its supplies, for which it was doubtless well contented having been set up just weeks before the operation. However, Boustead’s LCS project sent tens of millions of ringgit to this lady in the off-shore islands in pursuit of the same orders!
As for cover-up? Nothing was done about the scam when it was all found out about, which it must have been by management, the board – until the United Mafia were kicked out of office. In 2018 a report was produced, which was sat on by the United Mafia when they got back to office.
So, we are for now still left to wonder which sort of lady might have been allowed to get away with such an outrage fully protected by the United Mafia? Jaded Malaysians are unfortunately likely to assume that a wife of the political number two in charge of the contract whom Rafizi has accused would make a very credible candidate for obvious reasons.
If Mr Rafizi has misidentified the lady then the defences of public interest and good reason to believe (he has clearly been informed by people who ought to know that this is who she is) will provide strong shields against any defamation case against him. In clear mitigation he has just revealed to the public exactly how billions have been stolen from the army pension fund, thanks to the United Mafia, in yet another outrageous heist.
This is something the United Mafia chose to cover up instead. No wonder the ex-minister has taken his time to consider his options when it comes to suing Rafizi.
Meanwhile all this fellow needs to do if Rafizi has got it wrong is reach into his cabinet, read out the facts he has to hand and do something positive to assist in the uncovering of this massive crime.
What is stopping him and what is this Puad going on about?