THE wife of a minister in the Prime Minister’s Department was involved in a suspicious transaction involving the littoral combat ship (LCS) project, PKR deputy president Rafizi Ramli said today.

He claimed that based on the government’s investigative documents, an offshore company involved in the embezzlement of more than RM233 million, had links with the wife of Abdul Latiff Ahmad, a minister in the Ismail Sabri Yaakob administration.

He said that Zainab Mohd Salleh was a shareholder in Alizes Marine Limited, one of two offshore companies set up to embezzle LCS project funds with a ceiling value of RM9 billion from 2011 to 2014.

Latiff was the deputy defence minister from 2008 to 2013, while the minister was Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, now the Umno president.

The Malaysian Insight has contacted the former deputy minister for comment.

Latiff joined Bersatu from Umno after the 2018 general election.

Rafizi said that an internal investigation of the LCS scandal and his own follow-up review showed that two sham companies using the name Alizes Marine had been registered. 

He said a firm named Alizes Marine Limited was registered in Malta and another named Alizes Marine Labuan was registered in Labuan.

He added that both firms had offshore status and could be tracked. 

The existence of Alizes Marine Limited was only known when the offshore company’s database was leaked by whistle-blowers in what was known as the Panama Papers and the Paradise Papers.

“A check with the Paradise Papers database confirmed the existence of the Alizes Marine Limited company owned by a woman named Zainab Mohd Salleh.

“Zainab Mohd Salleh is also a shareholder of another offshore company established in Malta called Intralogistics Limited. This company holds shares in Alizes Marine Labuan.

“The LCS scandal internal investigation paper clearly describes the involvement of the Alizes Marine companies that embezzled LCS warship funds,” said Rafizi in his statement today.

Yesterday, the PKR deputy president said he would be revealing the identity of a politician, adding that he has evidence to back his claims.

“I have decided to name the politician to prevent the big ‘sharks’ from escaping (punitive action) while smaller fish are made scapegoats,” he said.

So far, former Boustead Naval Shipyard (BNS) Sdn Bhd managing director, Ahmad Ramli Mohd Nor, has been charged with three counts of criminal breach of trust involving RM21.08 million linked to the navy project.

Ramli, a former navy chief, was charged at the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court on August 16 with fraudulently approving three payments amounting to RM21.08 million to three different firms without the approval of the BNS board.

According to Rafizi, Zainab is Latiff’s second wife and he was Mersing MP when the alleged scandal took place prior to his switching over to Bersatu from Umno after the 2018 polls.

“The internal investigation report of the LCS project also clearly mentions that Zainab Mohd Salleh is the wife of Dr Latiff Ahmad.”

Rafizi said that following his revelation, he hoped Umno would stop blaming retired navy personnel for the scandal.

“A scandal of this magnitude cannot happen without masterminds from among the Umno leadership who made big decisions at that time, while the retired navy only conspired to carry out the malpractices.

“I also hope that the leadership of Perikatan Nasional from Bersatu and PAS will realise that this LCS scandal will also drag them down because their senior leader. Latiff and his family are directly involved in fake companies that embezzle LCS project funds,” he added. – August 22, 2022.