On Wednesday (Feb 7) , Pandan Member of Parliament Rafizi Ramli, who is also PKR vice-president, was found guilty by the Shah Alam Sessions Court for breaching the Banking and Financial Institutions Act (BAFIA).
He was sentenced to 30 months jail for exposing the details of four bank accounts pertaining to the National Feedlot Corporation (NFC) and its chairman, Datuk Seri Dr Mohamad Salleh Ismail. Prior to the verdict, Rafizi had issued a statement, via a four-minute-long video, in which he attempted to justify his actions.
Among others, he claimed that the majority of the RM250 million in public funds meant to help poor farmers, was ultimately used to purchase luxury condominiums and support other business endeavours.
His claims were clearly untrue. About two thirds of the funds were invested in business, building infrastructure for cattle farmers, purchasing cattle and feed and other needs, while the rest were supported by the government. A certain amount was used for property investment; those were lawful investments made in behalf of the group of companies. Rafizi was sued for making those claims and was found guilty.
Rafizi in the video also touched on other businesses related to feedlots, such as beef processing companies, distribution companies, restaurants related to beef dishes, and more.
NFC actually employed employed hundreds of workers to prepare sufficient beef supply for the nation.
Rafizi also claimed that no one involved in the scandal was prosecuted. He claimed that only he and Johari (ex-bank clerk Johari Mohamad, 47, who was charged with being an accomplice), were the only ones prosecuted.
However, checks showed that Dr Mohamad Salleh was charged and after several years of stating his case in court, was eventually found not guilty. So clearly, this was another baseless accusation.
Rafizi also claimed that millions of Malaysians have suffered as a result of the failure to have NFC punished. The price of beef was said to have remained high and of late, was too expensive for most Malaysians.
In truth, NFC was only in operation for three years when Rafizi launched his sensational attack, just when it was in the process of beginning its business. Three years is too soon to judge a business this size and to label it as a failure, is unfair.
The biggest problem was the opposition’s large-scale media spin campaign which eventually convinced buyers not to buy NFC products.
This act destroyed a business before it began, and denied the market of high quality beef products.
Rafizi also claimed that RM250 million was never fully returned. This was a loan, which must be paid back. And it was being paid back, before the business was dragged into the case.
It is clear that Rafizi and his team had aimed to ensure that the busines would fail, and at the same time cripple the loan repayment. A project of this scale is expensive and aimed to create a platform for locals in the breeding industry, ensure a profit in the process as well as build a solid cattle-rearing industry for the country. Unfortunately, the plan was destroyed just as it was about to begin.
Rafizi claims that he did what he did with good intentions. But a person with a sincere heart would not break into a bank’s database by working with an insider to steal confidential personal information and use it to create confusing claims and drag the country towards destruction all for the sake of his personal political interests.
The question is, can someone act according to his own whims, without respecting the law, and confuse the public for the sake of achieving his political goals?
The Shah Alam Sessions Court had on Wednesday decided that this was wrong, as what Rafizi had done.
It is common knowledge that he enjoys making controversial statements via a ‘shoot first, truth later’ approach.
This can be seen when several months ago, he had disputed the award of the Expo Negaraku 2017 tender under the Economic Planning Unit (EPU), which was given to Raslan Dahlan, whom he claimed was the elder brother of Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Seri Abdul Rahman Dahlan.
It later emerged that both had no family ties whatsoever. As a result, Abdul Rahman submitted a letter of demand to Rafizi, dated Jan 5, to compel him to issue an apology within seven days.
On July 2012, Rafizi had claimed that the cost of the construction of the MRT would shoot up three-fold to RM100 billion. However, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak later announced that the cost of the project was only RM21 billion, was on schedule, and had been trimmed by as much as RM2 billion from the projected cost. Rafizi had also falsely accused Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim of misconduct throughout the latter’s duration as Selangor Menteri Besar. Abdul Khalid won a defamation suit on August 2014. In fact, PKR also had to offer a public apology as a result.