Rafizi’s jail sentence explained in simple A, B and C
Lim Sian See
Q. What happened?
A. Rafizi convicted of breaking banking secrecy act by revealing bank account statements of others in his Mar 12, 2012 press conference (PC).
Q. Year 2012 huh? But this is 2018. Why so late?
A. Because Rafizi kept delaying this trial. He challenged to change the judges, he challenged the law to say BAFIA act was not constitutional. And when he lost, he appealed – causing years of delay to the actual BAFIA case.
Q. What did he reveal in that PC?
A. That National Feedlot Corp Sdn Bhd (NFC Sdn Bhd) had used part of a RM250mil soft loan from govt to purchase condominiums.
Q. OMG! Was it true?
A. No. In a separate defamation suit on the same PC filed by NFC Sdn Bhd, Rafizi was found to have told a lie. He was ordered to pay RM300k in damages to NFC.
Q. RM300k? Poor Rafizi. Did he managed to pay?
A. Yes, he appealed for public donations and paid the RM300k.
Q. So, if what Rafizi accused in his PC using the bank statements is a lie, what exactly did Rafizi “whistle-blow”?
A. He blew a lie. In fact Rafizi was not the person who exposed the troubles at the NFC cow project. It was the govt’s Auditor-General Report for 2010 that exposed this – not Rafizi.
Q. But isn’t Rafizi protected under as a whistle-blower ?
A. No. He did not register himself as a Whistle-blower under the Whistle-blower Act 2010 and also did not follow the provisions under that act. So he is not qualified as a whistle-blower.
Q. But what is the big deal about showing account statements of others?
A. It’s a very big deal as banking secrecy is the foundation of our banking system – not just in Malaysia but world-wide. Imagine if I show your bank account and credit card statements to your girl-friend or to the public. I am sure you would not want that as it invades your privacy.
Q. But how come the court never give chance? At least once lar coz Rafizi seems like a decent (although a bit silly person for lying) person.
A. Cannot. If the court says it is not a crime to show account statements then this will be used as a case precedent for other cases in the future. This means banking secrecy will cease to exist in Malaysia.
Q. oic.. but what about the RM250mil?
A. it’s a soft loan – not free money to NFC. NFC still has to pay back the loan together with interest of RM5mil per year. It is not like the RM305mil payment for grossly overpriced reports for the Penang Tunnel where you cannot recover the money.
Q. Sidetrack a bit. Yeah, RM305mil just to pay to do reports is very dodgy – especially when no roads have even started construction in 5 year. What did the “whistle-blower” Rafizi say about this Tunnel project?
A. Nothing. Zilch.
Q. But isn’t Rafizi a whistle-blower?
A. Well even if he is, he is a selective whistle-blower. Remember that Rafizi had once admitted in that his job is to incite the people to hate the govt every-day. (menghasut rakyat tiap-tiap hari untuk membenci kerajaan).
Q. You must be shitting me? He actually said that?
A. Yes. Watch his confession here:https://youtu.be/_wflqvKGeJI
Q. Okay, okay. Did NFC ever pay back any of the soft loan?
A. Yes. NFC paid back the loan installments for each year right up to the year 2013 totaling RM34.98 million.
By the year 2014, they could no longer pay back the loan as the govt had frozen all their accounts pending investigations.
Q. So what happened to the cash and assets of the company?
A. It remains frozen by the govt, who is recovering the money.
Q. Can the entire RM250mil ever be recovered.
A. There were two offers from a foreign-local JV to buy the project that would completely settle the loan. But the Govt did not give approval as it was under investigations then?
Q. Did the company ever raise any cows at all?
A. Yes. The Auditor General Report says they raised closed to 4,000 cows in the year 2010 but it was only 40% of the agreed target.
Q. 40%? But why didn’t NFC Sdn Bhd performed?
A. NFCorp Sdn Bhd had actually brought in 8,000 heads fulfilling the requirements. But because the govt did not manage to fulfill their part by building an export quality abattoir to slaughter the cows and roads to the project site. This led to NFC corp delaying their plans. The Auditor General’s report actually was critical on the infra development by Agri Ministry, not the company.
Q. So there was a delay due to the govt. How does this affect NFC?
A. NFCorp Sdn Bhd still needs to pay the yearly interest on the loan. So with the excess money, they invested in some properties – land and condominiums to get a return to pay the interest for the soft loan. Investing in properties under the company’s name (not private name) is allowed in the loan agreement.
Q. So, what happened to these condos and land?
A. As with any property investment in the year 2010-2011, all of them appreciated substantially in price. They are all in the name of the company – not individuals.
Q. Back to Rafizi. What was the consequence of his March 2012 PC?
A. Other than him getting unnecessarily jailed for 30 months and him declared a lair and having to pay RM300k in damages, his deception and provocation was designed to destroy the company and the project – setting back the govt’s plan for beef self-sustainability.
Q: Was any action taken on NFC too?
A: Yes, Other than being investigated and cleared by MACC and the police, their chairman Dr Mohamad Salleh was charged for not getting proper approvals from his own board to buy the properties under the company’s name. After a lengthy legal process, he was acquitted. The courts did not find him guilty as alleged deceivingly by Rafizi.
