KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 20): Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's answers in Parliament on Tuesday had avoided the key issue of alleged enforcement agency collusion with a purported "corporate mafia", said Bersama leader Datuk Seri Rafizi Ramli.
The former economy minister and PKR deputy president said on social media that Anwar's answers had "avoided and hid" the true controversy: that there are groups in the police and Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission working with rogue businessmen to threaten others into giving up their companies.
Rafizi described these allegations as unprecedented because the figures said to be involved are using this method to launder money from other criminal activities.
"The corporate mafia allegations are extraordinary as they raise the question whether organised crime groups have infiltrated enforcement agencies," he added.
Rafizi, who was once a staunch ally of Anwar, also said he welcomed the prospect of being sued by a minister over allegations of receiving RM9.5 million from businessman Victor Chin Boon Long to resolve a "corporate mafia" entanglement.
He said he was ready to present evidence in court.
Rafizi made the remarks after Anwar in Parliament dismissed the allegation as a mere “political statement unsupported by evidence”.
In March, Chin alleged that an executive director of HeiTech Padu Bhd (KL:HTPADU) — identified only as Mr R — and his associates had used pressure, coercion and restrictions on shareholders to force them to sell their shares in NexG Bhd. The group, which supplies Malaysian passport booklets and identity cards, recently reverted to its former name, Datasonic Group Bhd (KL:DATASONIC).
Chin further claimed that a PKR member of Parliament had solicited RM10 million from him to resolve the issues, of which RM9.5 million was purportedly paid.
Anwar on Tuesday also said laws governing Malaysia's financial and enforcement agencies are adequate to tackle corporate crime, and the government will establish a special committee chaired by the attorney general to investigate corporate crime.
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