Rafizi shares evidences that Abd Latiff, Zainab involved in LCS scandal

SHAH ALAM - Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) Deputy President Rafizi Ramli comes forward today to share evidence on Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Special Duties) Datuk Dr Abd Latiff Ahmad and another individual Zainab Mohd Salleh on their ownership of a subcontractor company in the littoral combat ship (LCS) project.

He said some evidence of Latiff's involvement through Zainab who was believed to be the wife of the former Defence Deputy Minister and the company Alizes Marine Limited could be seen through the LCS Project Forensic Report which was declassified on Monday.

He said through the audit report it was clearly stated that Zainab was the wife of Latiff who was also the former Defence Deputy Minister.

Rafizi claimed the lies by Alizes Marine Limited involved the usage of another company’s name in France even though the invoice was sent with a different address.

"The LCS Project Forensic Report listed the fake addresses used in the Alizes invoice and named a French citizen Thierry Georges Andre Barrier as an individual involved in the fraudulent scheme.

"Latiff established a company named Mega P Asia Sdn Bhd (registration 1163389-W) on Oct 23, 2015 (refer to '5A' and '5B')," he said in a post on his Facebook on Tuesday.

According to Rafizi, Mega P Asia Sdn Bhd (Mega P Asia) was also named in the LCS Project Forensic Report as one of the companies related to Latiff that profited from the project.

It involved the supply of manpower from Chile for the Scorpene submarine project that involved millions of ringgit and that company received the payments.

"Mega P Asia was established by Latiff together with Thierry Barrier who each held one share during its establishment.

"This reinforces the claims that Latiff was involved in the fraudulent scheme using fake invoices involving Alizes Marine Limited given that the invoice relates to Thierry Barrier (as reported in the LCS Project Forensic Report).

"The relationship between Latiff and Zainab was further strengthened when checks of Mega P Asia shares showed that Latiff and Zainab were the majority shareholders of the company," he explained.

Rafizi said the Form 68 Information stated that shareholder details of a company for 2017, filed with the Malaysia Companies Commission shows Latiff holds 105,002 shares and Zainab holds 245,000 shares in Mega P Asia.

He said the Mega P Asia financial report that was audited for the 2016 financial year also showed that the company that Latiff founded was controlled by Zainab.

"These evidences are enough to confirm that Zainab is the (second) wife of Latiff and both of them were involved in Marine Alizes Limited which was named in the LCS Project Forensic Report as a company that embezzled up to RM210 million of funds from the LCS project.

"If it is true that Zainab is not Latiff's wife as mentioned in the LCS Project Forensic Report, why did Latiff give a majority stake and allow Zainab to take control of Mega P Asia, the company that he founded and received contracts worth millions of ringgit from the Defence Ministry project?" he questioned.

Commenting on Latiff's statement on Monday which denied that Zainab was his wife, former Pandan MP Rafizi said it was seen as an attempt to confuse the public.

"The reference to 'viral news' certainly refers to the mistake of a news portal that had reported Zainab who was involved in the LCS project was the Chief Financial Officer of Dialog Berhad who is also Zainab Mohd Salleh.

"I laughed because Latiff probably thought I was wrong as well.

"Zainab Mohd Salleh who owns Alizes Marine Limited is another individual," he said.