KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 18 — PKR deputy president Rafizi Ramli has today clarified it was not caretaker deputy defence minister Datuk Seri Ikmal Hisham Abdul Aziz who sent a cease-and-desist letter in relation to statements made by the former on social media, but rather the latter’s wife.
Rafizi said he was perplexed as to why it was Ikmal Hisham’s wife, Datin Seri Norihan Ayob, who initiated legal action against him instead of the caretaker minister himself or the latter’s son, who are both implicated in the supposed procurement of self-propelled howitzers for the Army through the direct award of a contract.
“The letter of demand is not from him (Ikmal Hisham) or his son but from his wife. So this will definitely raise a huge question, which will surely be brought to the court’s attention.
“The inference that I can immediately make is Ikmal Hisham is not confident about taking legal action against me. It is as if his son is not confident about taking legal action against me.
“When it is his wife who sent the letter, it gives the impression that they only have a strong case for the wife,” Rafizi said during a press conference here.
Rafizi then said it was therefore incorrect for Ikmal Hisham to state he had issued the letter of demand.
Nonetheless, Rafizi said he has instructed his lawyers to respond to the letter of demand and a reply should be expected within the week.
Among the demands listed were requiring Rafizi to delete all defamatory statements made towards Ikmal Hisham and his wife, to stop spreading and repeating defamatory statements towards the pair, to publish a public apology and pay general and exemplary damages of RM500,000 to clear the reputations of the pair that have been smeared.
Previously, Rafizi alleged that the procurement of the howitzers, involving a sum of RM854 million, was awarded directly to a company, MA Analytics Sdn Bhd, that had just been established two years before.
He said the company was jointly owned by the deputy minister’s wife and son.
On October 7, Ikmal Hisham denied any links to the company that had been awarded a contract to procure the howitzers, adding that as the deputy defence minister, he had no authority to award such contracts.
In pleading innocence in the matter of the procurement of Self-Propelled Howitzer (SPH), Ikmal Hisham said that the procurement of assets by the Defence Ministry goes through a stringent process which includes prior approval by the end-user, such as the Malaysian Army, the Royal Malaysian Navy and the Royal Malaysian Air Force.
Ikmal Hisham also said he had lodged a police report against Rafizi and would leave it to the authorities to investigate.
