Rafizi Ramli breached Banking and Financial Institutions Act 1989

 

KUALA LUMPUR --- PKR strategy director RafiziRamli has seriously contravened the Banking and Financial Institutions Act 1989(BAFIA) when he illegally distributed private and confidential bank accountdocuments to the media for public dissemination and broadcast on 7 March, saidNational Feedlot Corporation (NFCorp).

 

NFCorp said Rafizi Ramli being a highly trainedaccountant and a member of the Instituteof Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, as well as the Malaysian Institute ofAccountants (MIA), shouldbe familiar with the laws that prohibit public distribution of private andconfidential bank account documents.

 

As such, NFCorp said RafiziRamli, Zuraida Kamaruddin and Nurul Izzah Anwar who collectively presided atthe PKR news conference where the private and confidential bank account documentsand credit ratings were revealed openly, should be investigated and charged forviolating BAFIA.

 

BAFIAprovides -

 

PART XIII

 

INFORMATION AND SECRECY

 

Restriction on inquiring specifically into affairs of a particularcustomer

 

96.Except as provided in section 43 (2), and without prejudice to the powers ofinspection, examination, investigation or inquiry conferred on the Bank or onan investigating officer under this Act, nothing in this Act shall — (a)authorise the Minister to direct the Bank; or (b) authorise the Bank, toinquire specifically into the affairs of any individual customer of anylicensed institution. 

 

Secrecy

 

97. (1)No director or officer of any licensedinstitution or of any external bureau established, or any agent appointed, bythe licensed institution to undertake any part of its business, whether duringhis tenure of office, or during his employment, or thereafter, and no personwho for any reason, has by any means access to any record, book, register,correspondence, or other document whatsoever, or material, relating to theaffairs or, in particular, the account, of any particular customer of theinstitution, shall give, produce, divulge, reveal, publish or otherwisedisclose, to any person, or make a record for any person, of any information ordocument whatsoever relating to the affairs or account of such customer.

 

97. (3)No person who has any information or document which to his knowledge hasbeen disclosed in contravention of subsection (1) shall in any manner howsoeverdisclose the same to any other person.

 

At the PKR news conference, informationand documents of not only NFCorp’s bank account but also the bank accounts ofits related companies as well as the individual bank account of its director weredistributed.

 

The penalty according to theFourth Schedule, Section 103 of BAFIA for contravening Section 97 (1) and (3)is a three year imprisonment and a RM3 million fine.

 

The company added that the bankshould also be investigated for having contravened BAFIA in releasing such confidentialinformation of its customers to unauthorised third parties.

 

Documents sighted by NFCorpreveal that the information distributed were internal bank printouts of creditratings and bank balances, and not the regular statements sent to customers ordownloaded from internet banking.

 

NFCorp said it would be easyfor Bank Negara Malaysia and the bank to track the culprit as the date and timeof the print out are indicated. However, the bank officer’s name had beendeliberately inked out.

 

In any case, NFCorp added thecompany did not have that many banks that it did business with and thereforeBNM would be able to track and identify from the audit trail.

 

A police report against RafiziRamli, Zuraida Kamaruddin and Nurul Izzah Anwar was lodged today.

- klpos