Rafizi: Next scandal on Negri Sembilan MB

PKR director of strategy Rafizi Ramli is getting set for his next expose within two weeks - a “scandal involving Negri Sembilan Menteri Besar Mohamad Hassan”.

“Wherever I go, people ask (about) the next scandal I’m going to expose,” he told some 300 people at a PKR-organised dinner in Seremban yesterday.

“For Negeri Sembilan PAS commissioner Mohd Taufek Abdul Ghani and (state) PKR chairperson Kamarul Baharin Abbas and the rest of the Pakatan Rakyat supporters here, I have good news. In one or two weeks, I will expose a scandal involving Mohamad Hassan (right).”

The crowd responded with thunderous applause.

Rafizi had previously blown the cover on the National Feedlot Corporation (NFC), claiming it had abused a RM250 million government soft loan intended for a cattle breeding project in Gemas, Negri Sembilan.

He and PKR Wanita chief Zuraida Kamaruddin are fighting a RM100 million defamation suit by Wanita Umno head and former federal minister Shahrizat Abdul Jalil, whose husband Mohamed Salleh Ismail is NFC executive chairperson.

Last night, Rafizi (left) provided an update on the case, saying that the NFC lawyer had written to his legal team to put the case on hold.

“I believe that, since the general election is around the corner, they want to minimise the damage because Shahrizat has dented Umno’s image,” he said.

"During the (hearing), she proudly said she was the first minister to head the women, family and community development portfolio.

"However, under cross-examination, she claimed not to be aware that her son is working for NFC or that her husband had bid for the NFC project," he said.

"So there is displeasure within some quarters in Umno - how is it that the minister for women, family and community development didn’t know what was happening within her family or what her son and husband were doing?

"Due to this, there has been a five percent shift in support from Umno to Pakatan. (When the legal proceedings resume,) she will be grilled for three consecutive days."

Tunku, Hussein 'had principles'

Former information minister Abdul Kadir Sheikh Fadzir also addressed the crowd, speaking about the principles of the first premier, Tunku Abdul Rahman.

“He made sure that the Election Commission was independent. After he (stepped down as premier), he wrote articles for newspapers. When I asked him, he told me that he needed the money. That was Tunku Abdul Rahman.

“When I was in Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s cabinet, I tried on one occasion to persuade the Tunku to re-join Umno but he refused.

“I also tried to persuade (the third premier) Hussein Onn to rejoin Umno, but he refused as well. They told that they loved Umno very much but that, for them, the party’s struggles were no longer the same as when it had fought for independence (from colonial rule).

“At the time of their death, they were not Umno members. So, for people like me to leave Umno is not a big deal.”

Abdul Kadir had quit Umno in March and in June, launched a new party, Ikatan.