Bank Negara summons to Rafizi 'bizarre'

PKR vice-president N Surendran described as "bizarre" the logic behind Bank Negara's summons to the party's strategic director, Rafizi Ramli, to present himself today for questioning over alleged offences under the Banking and Financial Institutions Act.

Lawyer Surendran, a likely PKR candidate in the forthcoming general election, will accompany Rafizi (left) to the meeting this afternoon with Bank Negara investigators.

Surendran denounced the summons to Rafizi as "politically motivated and an attempt to muzzle someone who had intrepidly performed his civic duty of exposing a scandal involving the wastage of public funds."

"There has already begun a criminal prosecution of people involved in this wastage of public funds based on information disclosed by Rafizi Ramli," said the lawyer who often appears for PKR in cases involving its principals.

"Thus I find the logic behind a summons to Rafizi bizarre and a threat to other potential whistleblowers with information on corrupt practices in high places," charged Surendran.

Punishment for offences under the Act could entail imprisonment of up to three years and a fine not exceeding RM3 million.

'Dastardly perversion of justice'

Since last October, the national political scene has been roiled by disclosures by opposition parties, particularly PKR, on the alleged wastage of RM250 million in public funds allocated to a cattle-breeding project supposedly gone awry.

Rafizi, a trained accountant, has often been in the forefront of disclosures about the alleged scandal that was first adumbrated in the annual report of the auditor-general, a wide-ranging review of government expenditure that normally precedes the unveiling of the
Budget, but last year was controversially held back till after.

In commenting on the law under which Rafizi has been summoned for questioning, Surendran (left) said:

"This is a draconian law and its purported enforcement in connection with the disclosures made about how public funds were disbursed in the National Feedlot Corporation is gross miscarriage of its intent and purpose.

"Rafizi has performed a civic obligation through disclosures of malfeasance. Instead of being hailed as an exemplary member of civil society he is being harassed for criminality.

"This is a dastardly perversion of justice," remarked Surendran.