KUALA LUMPUR, July 23 ― Senior lawyer Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan and four others are now also part of the unexplained travel ban that was yesterday found to be imposed on those related to highlights of the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) scandal, a lawyer said today.
Lawyer Latheefa Koya said she confirmed the ban by running a check on the Immigration Department’s website using the five individual’s identity card numbers.
She added that the five have also been alerted.
“So they will double check with the nearest immigration office.
“Because we are not sure what is the reason, these people are not the ones which have been highlighting 1MDB,” she said when contacted today, although she noted they were considered “vocal”.
According to Latheefa, the travel blacklist is believed to be imposed only recently, as some of the five named were able to travel abroad in the past few months.
Besides Ambiga, the four others named are PKR vice-president Chua Tian Chang, polls reform group Bersih 2.0 chief Maria Chin Abdullah, activists Adam Adli Abdul Halim and Hishammuddin Rais.
At the time of writing, Malay Mail Online has not been able to independently verify with each of the five individuals named.
Four others are already reported to be on the blacklist.
Yesterday, Immigration officials stopped DAP MP Tony Pua from boarding a flight to Yogyakarta, Indonesia at Kuala Lumpur’s budget carrier terminal, purportedly only on instructions from their superiors.
Shortly after, PKR MP Rafizi Ramli said he has also been flagged, basing it on checks on the Immigration Department’s website.
Others flagged by the department include Datuk Tong Kooi Ong, the owner of The Edge Media Group that has been publishing news reports on 1MDB, and Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil, the managing director of former 1MDB subsidiary SRC International Sdn Bhd and 1MDB’s former chief investment officer.
