PKR deputy president Rafizi Ramli has made a damning claim that a Cabinet minister’s second wife had a role to play in the alleged misappropriation of over RM230 mil in funds from the RM9 bil littoral combat ship (LCS) project.
He alleged that the embezzling was done through offshore accounts linked to Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Special Functions) Datuk Abdul Latiff Ahmad’s second wife, Zainab Mohd Salleh, for many years and in a “calculated manner”.
Rafizi made this allegation today after making reference to a supposed internal investigation into the scandal and his own research, which FocusM cannot independently verify.
In a statement today, Rafizi claimed two, fake, untraceable offshore companies were involved in the scandal – Alizes Marine Limited, which was registered in Malta, and Alizes Marine Labuan, which was registered in the federal territory.
The former Pandan MP said the existence of Alizes Marine Limited was only recently discovered when the names of offshore accounts were leaked in the Panama Papers and Paradise Papers.
According to the Paradise Papers, as sighted by FocusM, one Zainab Mohd Salleh was listed as a shareholder of Aliez Marine Limited.
Rafizi claimed this same person, who he said was Abdul Latiff’s second wife, also holds shares in another offshore company set up in Malta called Intralogistics Limited. He further claimed that this company holds shares in Aliez Marine Labuan (FocusM was unable to independently verify both allegations).
“Internal investigation papers into the LCS scandal clearly show the involvement of the Alizes Marine companies in misappropriating money from the LCS funds,” Rafizi alleged.
“Fake invoices and licence”
Rafizi claimed the misappropriation happened in two ways. First, these companies were appointed as technical consultants for the LCS project (despite supposedly not having the skills to do so). They then sent invoices for work that was purportedly not carried out.
“A total of RM23.37 mil was misappropriated in this way during the project’s early stages from 2011 to 2014,” he said.
Alizes Marine was also appointed as a spare parts supplier for the LCS project (which Rafizi said was based on “false information” that it had a licence from the French Government to export defence parts globally. He said it had no such license).
“The LCS project paid about RM210 mil for the spare parts that were supposedly provided by the French company. However, payment was misappropriated to fake companies set up in Malta and Labuan.”
The scandal is the talk of the town after it was revealed that not a single ship had been completed – although the Government spent RM6 bil on the project so far and five ships should have been delivered to the Royal Malaysian Navy by now.
In 2011, the defence ministry under the Barisan Nasional (BN) Government awarded the RM9 bil LCS contract to Boustead Naval Shipyard Bhd (BNS), with the contract signed in 2014. UMNO president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi was the defence minister from 2009 to 2013, while Abdul Latiff, also from UMNO, was his deputy from 2008.
Abdul Latiff has since denied being married to the woman Rafizi named. The now Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM) lawmaker added that he would cooperate with the authorities in any investigations on the matter all the same.
Rafizi, however, claimed that a paragraph in the supposed internal investigation report into the LCS scandal wrote: “It is noted that Abdul Latiff is the spouse of Zainab”.
“LCS not the only scandal linked to him”
He further alleged that there were other defence contracts allegedly involving Abdul Latiff and that the LCS is not the only project that involves companies linked to him.
“There are other national defence projects that similarly involve Alizes Marine and other companies owned and controlled by him or his wife,” Rafizi said, adding that more information on this would be revealed in “due course of time”.
That is why it is “no coincidence” that the LCS scandal is linked to fake companies linked to Abdul Latiff, he said.
“This is also why I have continuously demanded an explanation from Zahid, as the defence minister responsible for changing the ship design from Sigma to Gowind, and from Datuk Seri Najib Razak, who was the prime minister and finance minister at the time,” he added.
“It’s impossible that this misappropriation, involving projects under their purview, could have taken place without their knowledge.”
Rafizi added that he hopes his exposure will “zip the lips” of UMNO and BN leaders who are trying to blame retired navy leaders over the scandal.
“A scandal of this magnitude could not have taken place if it were not for the masterminds among the UMNO leadership who made big decisions at that time,” he claimed. “The navy retirees only conspired to carry out the misappropriation (of funds).”
Last Tuesday (Aug 16), former BNS managing director and vice-executive chairman Tan Sri Ahmad Ramli Mohd Nor was charged with three counts of criminal breach of trust (CBT) amounting to RM21.08 bil over the LCS scandal. – Aug 22, 2022
