Rafizi says unaware of Farhash's RM10m lawsuit until media reports

Summary

• Rafizi Ramli says that his lawyer will wait to be officially served the RM10m defamation suit against him before responding.

• The lawsuit concerns two videos which the Pandan MP posted on social media, which Farhash Wafa Salvador Rizal Mubarak claims were a malicious bid to tarnish his image.

Former economy minister Rafizi Ramli has said that he was not aware of businessperson Farhash Wafa Salvador Rizal Mubarak’s RM10 million defamation lawsuit filed against him until it was reported in the media yesterday.

In a video on X last night, the Pandan MP said that his lawyer will wait for the lawsuit to be served directly before deciding on their next move.

“My lawyer and I have not yet been served with this lawsuit. In fact, we only found out about it through news reports. Usually, when a lawsuit is served, it is officially also sent to the defendant.

“Therefore, my lawyer will be dealing with this and waiting for the lawsuit to be served before taking further action,” Rafizi said.

Farhash, a former aide to Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, filed a lawsuit against Rafizi for defamation over two videos published on social media.

Court papers revealed that the lawsuit was filed on Oct 10 through Messrs Ahmad Deniel, Ruben & Co, after Rafizi failed to tender an apology to Farhash over the allegedly defamatory videos.

The lawsuit mentioned two of Rafizi’s videos: one published on July 25, titled “Tangani isu Farhash, elak jadi beban lebih besar kepada kerajaan” (Address the Farhash issue to avoid it becoming a bigger burden to the government), and another released on Aug 20, titled “Bukan Ismail Sabri, Bukan KJ” (Not Ismail Sabri, Not KJ).

The first video relates to claims linking Farhash to the Sabah mining licence scandal. In the second, Rafizi revealed that a whistleblower meeting he attended shortly before his son was attacked in August had centred on Farhash.

The lawsuit states that Farhash is seeking RM10 million in general damages, along with aggravated, exemplary, and punitive damages, legal costs, and an injunction to restrain Rafizi from further publishing or disseminating similar statements about him.

Possible witnesses

Rafizi described being sued as “burdensome” as it would take up resources, including time and money.

“But the good thing is that we can present our arguments on the legal side and use the legal process to obtain information, as well as call witnesses.

“If the witness who needs to be called is a minister or even the prime minister, we will make an application to the court to summon those witnesses.

“The rest of it, we shall leave it to God,” he said in the video yesterday.

The former PKR deputy president, seemingly unfazed in the video, added that this was his 17th court case throughout his political career.

MACC clears Farhash over Sabah scandal

Last month, the MACC had cleared Farhash of any alleged links to the Sabah mining scandal after investigations revealed that no exploration licence had been issued to any company the businessperson owned.

MACC chief commissioner Azam Baki told a press conference that investigation papers were submitted to the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC), which then determined that no charges could be brought against any party.

Azam clarified that the company linked to Farhash had, in March 2023, applied for a mineral exploration licence to Sabah Mineral Management Sdn Bhd, but had failed to submit the requested documents.

“Therefore, in reality, no exploration was ever carried out because the documents were not supplied,” he added.

The Sabah land authority also denied that it received any application for a mineral prospecting licence from Bumi Suria, a company linked to Farhash.

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