'Rafizi's style of expose will cause chaos'

Laywers representing the National Feedlot Corporation (NFC)  insisted today that PKR director of strategy Rafizi Ramli should be charged, or else the floodgates to “chaos” would open.

The lawyers from the firm Shafee and Co said the “very stratum of banking would collapse” if Rafizi (left) gets off scot-free for breach of the Banking and Financial Insstitutions Act 1989 (Bafia).

“If a whistleblower is allowed to just announce in public protected materials under the Bafia without first resorting to the proper agencies, we will be courting chaos in our financial systems,” they said.

They said that if Rafizi had gone to the authorities instead, he could have been protected under the Whistleblower Protection Act 2010, and at the same time the integrity of Bafia would have been protected.

They added that Rafizi had obtained the bank documents belonging to NFC and its directors illegally and without their consent.

'AG should not be swayed'

“The roomful of journalists who were given the bank documents can attest that there is nothing unusual about the bank documents to be considered deserving of whistleblowing.

“As such, the Bafia charges should stand firm. The attorney-general and Bank Negara Malaysia should not be swayed by political rhetoric but investigate Rafizi’s absolute breach of Bafia”.

Rafizi and a former Public Bank clerk have been charged with contravening the Bafia by revealing banking details of NFC and its directors to the media.

The lawyers said this in response to aMalaysiakini report quoting Bar Council president Lim Chee Wee as saying that Rafizi's expose of the NFC scandal served the "public interest".

Therefore, Lim argued, one could wonder whether Rafizi's action was an appropriate case for the attorney-general to decide to prosecute.