Prove Zainab is my wife, minister challenges Rafizi

 

Abd Latiff Ahmad (left) has accused Rafizi Ramli of distorting an audit report into the navy’s LCS project.

PETALING JAYA: Special functions minister Abd Latiff Ahmad has challenged Rafizi Ramli to prove his allegation that a woman linked to the navy’s littoral combat ship (LCS) project, is Latiff’s second wife.

“Despite my prior explanations, Rafizi continues with his lies,” Latiff said in a statement. “If Rafizi is confident that Zainab Salleh is my second wife, please show proof.”

Rafizi had recently alleged that Zainab had embezzled funds from the project and was Latiff’s second wife.

However, Latiff said in a statement today that a forensic audit report on the LCS project signed by (the audit firm) “clearly does not refer to Zainab as being my second wife”.

He accused Rafizi of basing his allegations on an unsigned draft copy of the report and of ignoring a disclaimer that representations made in the report could not be verified.

Latiff said he had no role to play in the LCS contract in 2014, as he was deputy defence minister only from 2009 to 2013.

The contract calls for the construction of six frigates for the navy in the RM9 billion LCS programme. A parliamentary committee has said none of the ships has been completed or delivered despite the expenditure of RM6 billion so far.

Latiff said his family members did not benefit from any defence contracts when he was deputy minister.

He accused Rafizi, who is PKR deputy president, of continuing to lie despite his repeated denials. He also accused Rafizi of deliberately leaving out the disclaimer which said the oral and documentary representations made in the audit report were unable to be verified.

“Rafizi has used a draft version of the forensic report that is yet to be signed and its contents yet to be verified. He is not just dishonest, but also covered up facts by committing slander,” Latiff said.

Rafizi claimed that Zainab was the owner of two companies that had siphoned funds from the LCS project. He claimed the companies were appointed as technical consultants and suppliers of spare parts, adding that they had sent invoices for work that was never done.

The forensic audit was ordered by Boustead Heavy Industries, which owns Boustead Naval Shipyard, the firm contracted to build the six frigates. - FMT