The Official Secrets Act (OSA) must be amended to include heavier punishments so that no one will disregard the law and irresponsibly leak state secrets willy-nilly, said Deputy Home Minister Nur Jazlan Mohamed.
"That is why the government must amend the OSA so that those entrusted with secret information really understand," he said when met in Parliament today.
He said this when asked to comment on the actions of PKR vice-president Rafizi Ramli who had leaked OSA classified documents pertaining to the armed forces fund LTAT yesterday, though he did not mention the Pandan MP's name directly.
"So that action can be taken against them, far sterner actions. Because they have nonchalant attitude and think 'it is okay to spread OSA protected information'.
"This is why the government wants to amend the Act," Nur Jazlan (photo) explained.
Rafizi yesterday had exposed an OSA classified document purportedly linking LTAT with problematic sovereign fund 1MDB.
The MP alleged that the document proved that LTAT's ability to pay gratuity to armed forces retirees was compromised by late-payments from 1MDB to the military retirement fund's subsidiary for an airbase redevelopment and relocation project.
The alleged shortfalls in the subsidiary, claimed Rafizi, forced LTAT to utilise its own funds which led to delays in paying off its commitment to armed forces retirees.
LTAT has denied the allegations, saying that it has paid all gratuity to retirees.
Rafizi said he was forced to reveal the OSA information after LTAT refused to answer his query on the same matter.
Malaysiakini does not have the document and cannot report the information supposedly revealed by Rafizi in his press conference yesterday because of the legalities that make even the mere mention, let alone possession of OSA information, of public interest or not, a jailable offence.
In a statement, 1MDB acknowledged that it had in 2015, suffered from “cash-flow mismatch” in its dealing with the armed forces fund subsidiary but no longer owes any payments to date.
Inspector-general of police Khalid Abu Bakar had said today that the police are looking into the matter. -Mkini
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