MCA continued to slam PKR vice-president Rafizi Ramli for failing to immediately clear the name of a woman he had misidentified and alleging her involvement in an exposé on Putrajaya appointing a US lobbyist.

In a press statement today, MCA senator Chai Kim Sen said Florence Goh Siew Boey of CRT Insight Technologies Sdn Bhd had contacted Rafizi and PKR-linked think-tank Invoke right after the exposé.

"Shame on Rafizi, that despite her phone calls, emails to him and Invoke, there was no response.

"They should have returned the correspondence and immediately, cleared her name, instead of coughing up an apology, only after she held a press conference with MCA deputy president Wee Ka Siong and spoke of a lawsuit against Rafizi," Chai said.

Since Rafizi and PKR pride themselves so much with intelligentsia and sleuthing, they should re-check and reconfirm their facts, the MCA publicity bureau chairman said.

The PKR lawmaker should have conducted at least two separate searches with the Companies Commission of Malaysia to ensure no duplication, he said.

"PKR and the opposition must cease all their name-and-shame witch-hunting games just for political sensationalism because, besides Siew Boey, other completely innocent parties can likewise be affected and suffer loss of reputation and possibly diminished income as well," he said.

Chai claimed that Rafizi's apology was made out of expediency to avoid a possible defamation suit by Siew Boey.

Rafizi admitted he made a mistake hours after Siew Boey denied any link with Goffrey Group Ltd, a local firm that paid a Washington lobbyist, according to US Department of Justice (DOJ) filings.

Rafizi had claimed that the DOJ records showed that the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) had purportedly engaged Healy Baumgardner-Nardone, a former aide to President Donald Trump, for a fee of US$250,000 (RM1.125 million) on May 19.

According to the DOJ documents, Godfrey Group is located at Jalan Molek 2/3, Taman Molek, Johor Bahru. Siew Boey's office is located on a nearby street, Jalan Molek 2/1.

'Attacking me politically'

In response to Chai, Rafizi denied that Siew Boey had contacted him.

"If it were sent to Invoke's email, we have more than 10,000 volunteers communicating and it might be lost in those emails. Why couldn’t she contact me directly through my email or phone number when those details are all over the Internet?" Rafizi asked.

Firing back in a text message to Malaysiakini, Rafizi said: "MCA thinks it can take advantage of one Florence Goh to make a political issue out of this while conveniently ignoring the fact that another Florence Goh has not responded to documents after documents that prove her involvement in an attempt to lobby on behalf of the Malaysian government.

"If MCA has any shred of dignity left, at least it will be interested in getting to the bottom of this and uncovering how a relatively unknown woman can represent the Malaysian government in a contract to engage an ex-aide of Trump to lobby the US government.

"If Wee can call a special press conference, why can't MCA chip in and uncover the truth about who is behind Florence Goh, because this scandal exposes the workings of a government which may be subverting official scrutiny by using intermediaries like Goh to carry out subversive work?

"By harping on this, MCA has taken advantage of the Florence Goh in the mistaken-identity case and hidden behind her to attack me politically, when MCA could not attack me before.

"By design or inadvertently, MCA has paraded Siew Boey through political mud that can only draw negative publicity due to Florence Goh's association with MCA.

"The irony is: while MCA claims it wants to protect the reputation of Siew Boey, it just put her reputation at risk by riding on her to make political gains."

Rafizi advised MCA to become a "functional party that champions the rakyat's interest", and to "stop hiding behind Ms Florence Goh to throw punches".

"It's quite pathetic," he stressed.