KUALA LUMPUR: PKR vice-president Rafizi Ramli’s attempt to strike out a charge against him for allegedly publishing a libelous statement against Lembaga Tabung Haji (TH) was quashed when he was served with an amended charge at the magistrate’s court here today.
The Pandan member of parliament, however, pleaded not guilty when the charge was read to him before magistrate Umzarul An Nur Umar.
He was charged with defaming TH in an article “Analisa Kewangan Tabung Haji 2009-2015” (Tabung Haji Financial Analysis 2009-2015) which was uploaded onto his Facebook account on Feb 9 last year.
Rafizi allegedly committed the offence at Level 18, Bangunan Tabung Haji, 201 Jalan Tun Razak at about 9am on Feb 18, 2016.
The offence falls under Section 500 of the Penal Code for criminal defamation, which carries a maximum two years’ imprisonment or fine or both upon conviction.
Deputy public prosecutor Mohamad Abazafree Abbas submitted the amended charge to the court when Rafizi, via his lawyer Gobind Singh Deo, was expected to give his submissions during proceedings.
“We are of the view that there should be an explanation about what is meant by ‘defamatory’ in the previous charge… thus we would like to submit an amended charge to the accused,” Abazafree said during proceedings.
On April 8 last year, Rafizi pleaded not guilty in the magistrate’s court to a charge of defaming TH in his blog at the same place and time.
However, Rafizi had applied for the charge to be dropped yesterday on the grounds that the charge was baseless and was an abuse of the legal and court process.