Rafizi (right) has spearheaded PKR’s offensive against dubious financial dealings linked to BN. — File pic
SHAH ALAM, Aug 1 ― PKR strategy chief Rafizi Ramli was charged today with violating the Banking and Financial Institutions Act (BAFIA) in exposing confidential banking details of National Feedlot Corporation Sdn Bhd (NFCorp), in a case that will put whistleblower protection laws under greater scrutiny.
The firm runs the federal government’s cattle farming project that has been at the centre of a RM250 million scandal.
The charge proffered under Section 97(1) of the BAFIA stated that Rafizi had disclosed four customer account profiles detailing the balance summary for the National Feedlot Corporation Sdn Bhd (NFCorp), the National Meat and Livestock Sdn Bhd, Agroscience and Industries Sdn Bhd and NFCorp chairman Datuk Seri Mohamad Salleh Ismail, to two individuals identified as Yusuf Abdul Alim and Erle Martin Carvalho.
Under Section 103(1)(a) of the same law, he could be fined a maximum of RM3 million and jailed up to three years if found guilty, which could seriously hobble Rafizi’s chance of standing as a candidate in the 13th general elections that must be held by April next year when the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition’s mandate expires.
Former Public Bank clerk Johari Mohamad was charged with abetting Rafizi in disclosing the account profiles for the same four customers, under Section 112(1)(a) of the BAFIA, read together with Section 91(1) of the same law that deals with confidential banking information.
He faces the same sentence as Rafizi if convicted.
Both Rafizi and Johari pleaded not guilty when the charges were read out at the Sessions Court here.
Bail was later set at RM15,000 each, with Seri Setia assemblyman Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad, who is also PKR communications director, as bailor.
The trial is set to start on September 10.
Read more | 1 Aug 2012
