Rafizi challenges Nasharudin to declare assets, finances

Rafizi challenges Nasharudin to declare assets, finances

PKR vice-president Rafizi Ramli says he can't wait for ex-PAS deputy president to sue him in order to throw 'hundreds of questions' over ties with Umno. PETALING JAYA: Rafizi Ramli has challenged former PAS deputy president Nasharudin Mat Isa to declare his income and assets, as well as all contributions received, to prove that he did not obtain any money from a former subsidiary of 1MDB. The PKR vice-president today said Nasharudin should sign a statutory declaration (SD) on the matter to back his claim that he did not get a single sen from SRC International Sdn Bhd.

He said Nasharudin should include in the SD contributions received by organisations and projects that he has led, such as the Nassar Foundation which he chaired. “He should also detail in the SD how the properties, incomes and contributions were spent and to whom monies contributed were paid to,” Rafizi said in a statement. The Pandan MP added that the SD should cover the relevant details for every year from 2012 to 2017. On Thursday, Rafizi filed an SD naming Nasharudin, who currently heads Putrajaya’s Global Movement of Moderates (GMM), as the PAS member whom he alleged had received funds from SRC International.

Rafizi had said based on information he received from a former senior officer of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), money from the former 1MDB subsidiary, which was said to have been transferred to Prime Minister Najib Razak’s accounts, had also made its way to Nasharudin’s bank account. Yesterday, Nasharudin denied the allegation, calling it “baseless” and “irrelevant”. He added that the statements against him were also “a gross defamation” to both him and PAS. Rafizi today said the asset declaration that he has asked Nasharudin to make was not difficult to do, as he himself did it every year. He said there were hundreds of accountants and lawyers who would scrutinise every sentence in the SDs. “If any information given is not accurate, the people of Malaysia will lodge police reports and he can be jailed,” Rafizi said.

He also said he couldn’t wait for Nasharudin to sue him, because the plaintiff in any suit would be the first on the witness stand. “I have hundreds of questions to pose to Nasharudin on his alleged involvement in lobbying the PAS leadership to become friendlier with Umno.” Rafizi also said he was not disturbed by the criticisms hurled against him after he made the allegation against Nasharudin, having anticipated such reactions beforehand. “I am not in the least affected. I have undergone such things every time I exposed misappropriation of public funds since 2011,” he said. Nasharudin was PAS deputy president from 2005 to 2013. He was sacked from PAS’ governing council in January 2013, but has remained a member of the Islamist party. SRC International was founded as a 1MDB subsidiary in 2011, but later removed and placed directly under the Finance Ministry in 2012. -FMT