Rafizi gets 30 months
> Found guilty of disclosing banking information of four parties to media over NFC case
SHAH ALAM: Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) vice-president Mohd Rafizi Ramli was sentenced to 30 months’ jail by the sessions court yesterday after he was found guilty under the Banking and Financial Institutions Act (Bafia) for disclosing banking information of four parties to the media six years ago.
Judge Zamri Bakar also handed down a similar sentence on former bank clerk Johari Mohamad after finding him guilty of conspiring with Mohd Rafizi, who is also Pandan MP, in committing the offence.
Zamri handed down the sentence after finding that the defence by Mohd Rafizi and Johari failed to raise reasonable doubt against the prosecution’s case, conducted by deputy public prosecutor Lailawati Ali, Bernama reported.
The court, however, allowed a stay of the sentence pending an appeal following requests by lawyers Latheefa Koya, representing Johari, and Ahmad Nizam Hamid, for Mohd Rafizi.
Article 48(1)(e) of the Federal Constitution states that a person is disqualified as an MP if sentenced to jail for a term of more than one year, or is fined more than RM2,000, and has not received a pardon.
Mohd Rafizi, 41, was charged with disclosing documents comprising balance summaries relating to bank accounts of National Feedlot Corporation (NFC), National Meat and Livestock Sdn Bhd, Agroscience Industries Sdn Bhd and NFC chairman Datuk Seri Dr Mohamad Salleh Ismail, to media consultant Yusof Abdul Alim and The Star reporter, Erle Martin Carvalho.
He was charged with committing the offence at the PKR headquarters in Merchant Square, Jalan Tropicana Selatan, Petaling Jaya, on March 7, 2012.
The charge, under Section 97(1) of Bafia, is punishable under Section 103(1)(a) of the same Act, and carries a maximum three-year jail sentence or RM3 million fine, or both.
Johari, 47, had pleaded not guilty to conspiring with Mohd Rafizi. He was charged under Section 112 (1)(c) of Bafia, punishable under Section 103 of the same Act.
According to Election Commission (EC) chairman Tan Sri Mohd Hashim Abdullah, Mohd Rafizi will still be the MP for Pandan until he has exhausted all avenues of the appeal process.
“At the moment, it is too early for the EC to comment on his position, whether or not he can contest in the coming 14th general election, as the case can only be finalised after all the relevant legal processes are disposed, because he still has the right to appeal,” Mohd Hashim said in a statement.