PETALING JAYA, Nov 3 — A Malaysian businessman with cross border links to powerful leaders in the past was today named by PKR deputy president Rafizi Ramli as the another shadow figure to have played a key role in the ongoing financial scandal surrounding the government’s littoral combat ships (LCS) project.

Rafizi said the businessman was tied to Bersatu’s Datuk Seri Dr Latiff Ahmad, a caretaker minister whom the PKR politician previously alleged of involvement in the LCS forensics audit report through a company named Mega P Asia Sdn Bhd.

He added that the businessman had a shady past and had been embroiled in scandals involving the late Iraqi president Saddam Hussein and had also been arrested in Sri Lanka.

Rafizi also claimed the businessman to have family ties to a former Malaysian prime minister.

He said the businessman’s sons are equally well-connected and currently run a company with stakes in MySejahtera Sdn Bhd, one of whom even holds senior position there.

Malay Mail is withholding publication of the businessman’s name pending checks.

"Latiff Ahmad is the original shareholder in this company that got various sea defense contracts from Boustead's subsidiaries, including to supply manpower to projects under Boustead,” Rafizi told a news conference at the PKR headquarters here.

He provided reporters present with a copy of what he purported as a report from the Registrar of Companies on Mega P Asia.

The document ostensibly showed that Dr Latiff and his brother resigned from Mega P Asia’s board of directors on March 10, 2020. They were then replaced by the businessman’s two sons.

Dr Latiff was initially from Umno who left the party after Election 2018 who later joined Bersatu in 2019 and was made a minister in the Perikatan Nasional government on March 3, 2020.

On August 23 this year, Rafizi claimed hanky panky within Mega P Asia between Dr Latiff and a woman named Zainab Mohd Salleh who was alleged to be the minister’s second wife as well as his business partner.

"Mega P Asia Sdn Bhd was also named in the Forensic Report of the LCS Project as one of the companies linked to Dr Latiff Ahmad who profited from the country’s sea defence projects,” Rafizi said in quoting Paragraph 3.16.13.4 page 97 of the declassified forensic audit of the LCS project by the Boustead Heavy Industry Corporation (BHIC).

Rafizi said he found out the businessman’s identity from industry sources who were in the know about the LCS project as well as defence dealings, and had also made his own investigations.

"I want to get into the bottom of this and find out who is behind the scam.

"It is like 1MDB, where someone is responsible for it and the person is not easily found,” he told reporters.

"If it is being taken to court, I can bring the retired high ranking naval man to testify,” he added.

"With this disclosure, I await for, firstly, Latiff Ahmad's response after evidence after evidence showed how he was an important character in the LCS scandal through his business relationship with Alizes Marine Ltd and now the said businessman.

"Second, the feedback from the said businessman regarding this disclosure,” he said.