Rahman: Rafizi messed up, contract wasn't given to my brother

Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Abdul Rahman Dahlan has threatened to sue PKR vice-president Rafizi Ramli for alleging his brother received a contract to organise the "Expo Negaraku".

Rahman, who oversaw the organising of Expo Negaraku, said it was a case of mistaken identity by Rafizi.

"I was just informed that Rafizi today held a press conference to accuse me of appointing my brother as the contractor of Expo Negaraku.

"Rafizi messed up big time, Raslan Dahlan is not my brother. Rafizi has ill intent," he said in a series of tweets.

Earlier today, Rafizi published a press statement on his blog titled: "The organising of Expo Negaraku is managed by a company owned by Rahman Dahlan's brother."

One of the shareholders of Pico Integrated Exhibits Sdn Bhd, which manages the expo, is listed as Raslan Dahlan.

Rafizi's statement has since been removed.

The expo, which aims to showcase Putrajaya's achievements, is organised by the Economic Planning Unit of the Prime Minister's Department.

Rahman accused Rafizi of being a "compulsive serial liar" and urged Pakatan Harapan to impose a gag order on him.

"In his press conference, Rafizi said he had conducted investigations and research and was confident that he had solid evidence that Raslan Dahlan, the chief executive officer of Pico Integrated Exhibit Sdn Bhd, was my brother.

"Once again, Rafizi deliberately fabricated a big lie to slander me, the BN government and Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak," he said. 

In a press conference at the Expo Negaraku venue at Dataran Merdeka later, Rahman noted how Rafizi had taken down a video of the press conference he held earlier today.

"Because he knows he's wrong, he knows he has slandered, he probably received feedback from the public that Raslan is not my brother that's why he quickly deleted the video.

Rahman said he had promptly instructed his aides to download the video and take screenshots of Rafizi's Facebook and Twitter posts because he knew that "Rafizi would realise that he has erred and would try to erase his lies".

'Raslan more handsome than me'

The minister had played the video recording in full during his press conference today. Also present was Raslan whom Rahman again denied was his brother, joking that Raslan was "more handsome than him".

Rahman (photo) also said he did not know who Raslan was before his company was appointed to manage the expo.

"If a person does not know the truth on the matter, he or she would be influenced by Rafizi's serial lies if you were to look at his body language, the way he spoke and how he presented it.

"This is Rafizi, I don't know how many more times he would have to lie to Malaysians for them to go against (the government)."

Meanwhile, when asked to respond to Rafizi's call for him to reveal the cost of organising the expo as well as Rafizi's claim that the project was not awarded via an open tender, Rahman said he will answer Rafizi's queries at a later date.

"He said he will have another press conference tomorrow. There's nothing to hide - the government's expenses cannot be hidden.

"He can ask in Parliament and everything can be revealed in the audit report.

"Since he has made a mistake, I want to see what other lies he will be making tomorrow," added Rahman.- Mkini