Hamzah's files: Rafizi doubts opposition leader would risk jail

 

Economy Minister Rafizi Ramli said he doubted opposition leader Hamzah Zainudin would risk going behind bars to expose files on government leaders that the latter claimed to possess from his time as home minister.

As such, Rafizi said he does not see Hamzah’s claims to be anything “beyond mere rhetorics” as his freedom is at stake should he choose to conduct an exposé.

“I won’t be too worried because I doubt any politician would want to risk themselves going to prison.

“If I were Hamzah, if they want to expose, then they are exposing themselves to all this (potential jail time)… I doubt so,” he said after launching the Economic Census 2023 initiative at Bank Negara Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur today.

Rafizi (above, right) was asked to comment on Hamzah’s claim that the Larut MP had “a lot of files” on current government leaders from when he was a minister.

MPs from Pakatan Harapan have since said that Hamzah (above, left) may have run afoul of the law if he kept any sensitive documents from his time in government and urged for him to be probed.

PKR’s Pasir Gudang MP Hassan Karim, who is also a lawyer, said Hamzah’s remarks went against the Official Secrets Act (OSA) 1972 and the oath of secrecy.

DAP’s Kepong MP Lim Lip Eng questioned “if the files are under the OSA, would Hamzah not have committed a crime punishable under the act by holding on to the files?”

Meanwhile, Rafizi also advised opposition lawmakers to consider whether any revelations would be of public interest before conducting an exposé.

Speaking from experience having been found guilty of breaching the OSA in 2016, he stressed that his intention of disclosing a page of a classified document on the 1MDB scandal, which was in his possession without authorisation, was to “save the public more than anything else”.

“Make sure it’s not mud-slinging and taking political advantage out of it.

“The public is a lot smarter. We’ll just wait and see.

“If there were major scandals involving anyone, the documents would have been out by now. The media would have gotten it,” he added.

In June 2018, Rafizi was released on a two-year good behaviour bond after his 18-month jail sentence was overturned by the Court of Appeal.

The court allowed Rafizi’s appeal against his jail sentence over two convictions under the OSA and released him on a good behaviour bond of RM10,000. - Mkini