MACC report lodged on minister's alleged links to LCS funds

PKR’s Johor Bahru MP Akmal Nasrullah Mohd Nasir said a report was lodged today with the MACC to urge a probe into the alleged involvement of a minister in the illicit money trail of the littoral combat ships (LCS) project.

He said the report against Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Special Functions) Abdul Latiff Ahmad was to bring back focus on the RM9 billion scandal.

“The report is important to bring back the focus onto the issue pertaining to the LCS.

“What we want the MACC investigation to focus on is really on the money trail because it seems quite clear that… illicit funds went out of the country through these bogus companies,” Akmal (above) told Malaysiakini today.

Akmal said that his colleague from PKR, Mohd Aizuddin Ariffin, was the one who lodged the MACC report today.

He said Aizuddin entered the MACC headquarters around 10am, claiming the latter only left about seven hours later around 4.28pm, after a full-length interrogation.

He stressed that Zainab Mohd Salleh, who is allegedly behind two offshore companies linked to the LCS project, should be at the centre of the investigation.

Zainab was alleged to be Abdul Latiff’s second wife by PKR deputy president Rafizi Ramli. The minister has refuted the allegation.

Akmal also said lodging the MACC report against the minister today was not in retaliation to Rafizi’s recent questioning by the police.

“We know Rafizi was harassed over the weekend when he was called by the police…

“When we decided to make this MACC report, it was not a way to retaliate over what happened to him.”

Akmal also likened Zainab to fugitive businessperson Low Taek Jho, also known as Jho Low, who has been closely linked to the 1MDB scandal.

“Our fear is that she (Zainab) may be the Jho Low to Latiff because her name appears everywhere (in relation to the LCS project),” he said.

Marital status denied

In a series of exposé, Rafizi accused Latiff and his family members of allegedly benefiting from the RM9 billion LCS project and other defence contracts during his tenure as deputy defence minister during the BN federal administration.

The former Pandan MP also insisted that Latiff has a wife named Zainab Mohd Salleh, who in turn, has been implicated in misappropriating funds from the LCS project.

Latiff has since denied the claims, saying he had no role in the LCS project, his family did not receive any defence contracts during his time in the ministry, and he had no marital ties with anyone named Zainab Salleh.

Rafizi was subsequently called in for police questioning over this matter last weekend, where his phone was confiscated.

Akmal said if Latiff is honest about wanting to clear up this issue, he should not cover for Zainab.

“He should produce Zainab and not just beat around the bush because he definitely transferred the shares to Zainab before he left the company, so he should know the existence of Zainab,” he said.

He said they also hope to pressure the MACC into making public Latiff’s most recent asset declaration as a minister.

“We need to push MACC to reveal the asset declaration (from Latiff) and from there we can trace income and expenditure and where the money trails are.

“Because the MACC Act, I think, is stronger in the sense of tracking the money trail because they did it for SRC International, so I think they can do it again this time around,” said Akmal.

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