Rafizi to sue Papagomo

The PKR strategy director wants to take the pro-Umno blogger to court for claiming the former was sacked from Petronas for allegedly being incompetent.

PETALING JAYA: PKR strategy director Rafizi Ramli would be filing a legal suit against blogger Papagomo for alleging that he was sacked from Petronas in 2009.

“I have already instructed my lawyer, Razlan Jalaluddin to file a suit against the blogger for his latest slander against me,” said Rafizi at a press conference held at the party headquarters today.

Also present was PKR women chief Zuraida Kamaruddin.

On April 11, Papagomo, whose real name is Wan Muhamad Azri Wan Deris, published an article claiming that Rafizi was sacked from Petronas for allegedly being incompetent at work.

The blogger also claimed that Rafizi had, on several occasions, taken time off to campaign for the opposition during his employment in the national oil company.

Rafizi said that he had mentioned in his blog, on the same day, that he was never sacked from Petronas but instead chose to resign from his post in order to pursue other areas of interest.

“Although I have explained the matter in my blog, Papagomo failed to make any correction on his part,” he said.

Rafizi said that even his former colleagues in Petronas had come out to defend him in recent days.

He added that Papagomo had gone too far in his malicious attacks and took the decision to sue the blogger as a matter of principle.

Calling Papagomo a coward, Rafizi said that the blogger should be able to stand by his accusation if he was certain of it, instead of hiding under anonymity and disguising his own identity.

“This is also a reminder to all pro-Umno bloggers. You want to attack us, debate us on policy matter,” said Rafizi, who added that only by legal suit would the bloggers cease to indulge in such slander.

The PKR leader claimed that Papagomo was able to act with impunity all this while due to the backing the blogger was receiving from the ruling coalition.

“We have evidence on how people in high places are backing Papagomo. We will reveal it soon,” said Rafizi.

On March 21, Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim filed a legal suit against Papagomo for implicating the former in a sex scandal.

The blogger posted explicit photos taken from a video grab of a man resembling Anwar kissing and fondling another man, on his blogsite on March 16.

Papagomo has also revealed that he would be contesing in Permatang Pauh which is Anwar’s seat.