Original documents in Rafizi's Bafia trial not presented to court

The two individuals to whom PKR vice-president Rafizi Ramli is alleged to have handed financial focuments linked to National Feedlot Corporation (NFC) and its chairperson Mohd Salleh Ismail no longer have the original documents.

This was revealed in the Sessions Court in Shah Alam today when the two took the stand as the fourth and fifth prosecution witnesses in the trial against Rafizi under the Banking and Financial Institutions Act (Bafia) 1989.

"I handed the original documents to (GRA Communications CEO) Ghazalie Abdullah and that was the last time I saw (the original documents)," media consultant Yusuf Abdul Alim told judge Zamri Bakar.

Yusuf was one of the individuals who is purported to have received the documents from Rafizi at the PKR headquarters in Petaling Jaya on March 7, 2012.

Defence counsel Latheefa Koya raised an objection and insisted that the original documents Rafizi handed to the individuals be produced in court.

"The charge is that Rafizi had given these documents to Yusuf and (The Star reporter) Erle Martin Carvalho.

"If the charge says you have been given something, you have to produce the exhibit," she explained to Malaysiakini later.

Yusuf then explained that he handed the original documents to Ghazalie, who passed it to Mohd Salleh, who then gave it to his then executive secretary Wan Zurina Saarani to make photocopies of the documents.

After that, he said, the original documents appeared to have gone missing.

'Copy is from original document'

However, he confirmed that the paper presented to court was a copy of his original document, as it contained his notes in his handwriting, which he wrote when he first received it.

Later, Carvalho also told the court that he too no longer possessed the original documents that he had he received.

Rafizi claimed trial to the charge under Section 97 of Bafia, in August 2012, to having disclosed financial accounts held by Public Bank to Yusuf and Carvalho.

The accounts were identified as the customer profiles of NFC, Meatworks and Livestocks Sdn Bhd, Agroscience Sdn Bhd and Mohd Salleh.

Today was a continuation of yesterday's hearing, two years after Rafizi obtained a stay from the High Court in Shah Alam, in August 2015, pending the hearing of his appeal to declare the charge as unconstitutional.

In yesterday's hearing, Mohd Salleh said NFC is a private company that is only answerable to its board members and shareholders, despite being set up with a RM250 million government loan.

Also present in court yesterday and today was former Public Bank clerk Johari Mohamad, who is charged with abetment under Section 112(1)(c) of Bafia.

Aside from Yusuf and Carvalho, the prosecution also called one other witness, Public Bank human capital management director Mary Ng.

The hearing continues next Thursday, April 27.- Mkini