SHAH ALAM, April 27 — The Sessions Court here today set May 15 to hear applications from both parties on the Banking and Financial Institutions Act (BAFIA) 1989 in PKR lawmaker Rafizi Ramli’s National Feedlot Corporation (NFC) trial.
Judge Rozina Ayob set the date after rejecting the preliminary objection by deputy public prosecutor (DPP) Nazrul Nizam Mohd Zameri claiming the defendants are trying to delay the court process.
“Any party can file any application anytime so this objection to me, I don’t see what the DPP is objecting to, the abuse of court process.
“Unless they say those laws are not relevant to this case but you are referencing BAFIA and this law is relevant to this case,” she said.
Rafizi, who is PKR secretary general and Pandan MP, is accused of leaking confidential banking information involving the NFC three years ago, the company at the centre of the RM250 million cattle-farming scandal that had led to the fall of a senior Umno minister.
The 38-year-old was charged in August 2012 at the Shah Alam Sessions Court with revealing four Public Bank customer-profile documents to unauthorised individuals.
The documents comprised balance summaries relating to NFC, National Meat and Livestock Sdn Bhd, Agroscience Industries Sdn Bhd and NFC chairman Datuk Seri Mohamad Salleh Ismail.
He allegedly committed the offence at the PKR’s headquarters at Merchant Square in Petaling Jaya on March 7, 2012.
The charge under Section 97(1) of the BAFIA, punishable under Section 103(1)(a) of the same Act, carries a maximum three years’ jail or RM3 million fine, or both, upon conviction.
Bank clerk Johari Mohamad, 44, is also accused of conspiring with Rafizi on the same date, at the same place.
The charge is under Section 112(1)© of the BAFIA, and punishable under Section 103 of the same Act.
On May 15, the judge will decide if the issues raised should be referred to the High Court.
Rafizi’s lawyer N. Surendran told reporters that they are challenging the constitutionality of Section 97 and Section 87 of the BAFIA.
