TOP Pakatan Harapan leaders want police to stop all forms of pressure and harassment on PKR deputy president Rafizi Ramli.

In separate statements, they said police should focus on investigating the littoral combat ship (LCS) controversy and not Rafizi.

PKR president Anwar Ibrahim said police confiscating Rafizi’s mobile phone for the purpose of investigation into the LCS project was a bit excessive.

He said what police did as part of their investigation into Rafizi also happened to the students in the #Turun protest.

“Police should also be fair in this matter by investigating Abdul Latiff Ahmad, because the police report against him was also made within days,” said Anwar in a statement today.

According to Anwar, police are conducting the investigation in a transparent manner without any pressure.

In a separate statement, Amanah president Mohamad Sabu and DAP deputy secretary-general Liew Chin Tong told the police to focus on investigating the LCS controversy and not Rafizi.

The former defence minister and his deputy said the authorities ought to be focusing on prosecuting those causing problems and not go after whistleblowers.

Police recorded Rafizi’s statement yesterday over his allegations against Latiff.

This comes after a police report was lodged by Latiff’s aide on August 30, who cited Rafizi’s blog posts that were also shared on the latter’s Facebook and Twitter accounts.

Rafizi is being investigated under Section 500 of the Penal Code and Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 2008.

Rafizi is alleged to have made several defamatory statements, claiming that a woman named Zainab Mohd Salleh linked to the LCS project is Latiff’s wife.

Latiff has denied knowing the woman, as well as denying that Zainab is his spouse.

According to Malaysiakini, Latiff’s special officer Sayed Ahmad Mu’izzuddin Al-Sayed Mohamad said Rafizi has persisted in his claims despite the minister’s clarification.

Sayed reiterated the minister’s claim that Rafizi is misleading the public by citing a draft forensic audit report to back his claims.

He said this disregards a disclaimer contained in the report stating that auditors were unable to assess the veracity of claims made by people involved in the project. – September 4, 2022.