Rafizi denies involvement in plot to topple PM Najib

(The Star) – PKR vice-president Rafizi Ramli has denied being involved in a plot to forge 1Malaysia Development Berhad documents with the aim of discrediting the Prime Minister.

He said the police report which was lodged accusing him and several other opposition leaders of conspiring with Sarawak Report to vilify Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak was merely an attempt to dismiss 1MDB’s issues.

The police report was made by Pertubuhan Minda dan Sosial Prihatin (PMSP) president Ramesh Rao, which carried a confession by a man named Lester Melanyi, who claimed that he formerly worked for Sarawak Report and was a part of the plot to criminalise Najib via 1MDB.

However, Rafizi has vehemently denied ever having met or known of Melanyi.

He also denied working with Sarawak Report to damage Najib’s credibility.

“I have never instructed Sarawak Report on its editorial policy, nor have I ever provided them with material to publish.

“All the issues I have raised about 1MDB originate from local and international news reports, as well as answers given to me by the Finance Ministry in Parliament,” he said in a statement Thursday.

Rafizi said a press conference by Barisan Nasional strategic communications director Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan on Wednesday, which used the police report to implicate him and several other politicians, was an “evil conspiracy” to paint the 1MDB scandal as a creation of the opposition.

“I am confident that this conspiracy will be unsuccessful as the 1MDB scandal is huge and the facts of this case are too obvious for the issue to go away so easily.

“I wonder if Datuk Rahman Dahlan will next disclose that I had somehow instructed the Wall Street Journal to report about 1MDB,” the Pandan MP said.

Rafizi added that he would mull legal action against Rao and several other individuals over their allegations.

A video confession by Lester was uploaded to YouTube on Wednesday, where he revealed having worked with Sarawak Report editor Clare Rewcastle Brown and being aware of the plot to forge the 1MDB documents.

He also claimed that he was present during a meeting between Brown and a top Opposition leader in London, where the alleged plot was discussed.