Najib is 'afraid', Rafizi claims on Sapura debate

SHAH ALAM - Outspoken PKR's Rafizi Ramli claims former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak may be "afraid" to take him on to debate over Sapura Energy Bhd.

Over Twitter, he said Najib was looking for excuses to drag PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to debate on the matter.

“(Najib) is merely looking for excuses to drag Anwar into the mix again because he believes the PKR president is afraid to take on the challenge.

“I will alert Anwar of his (Najib's) request so that both of us can sit back and see what excuse Najib comes up with next,” the former Pandan MP said.

Sinar Harian had earlier reported that Najib has agreed to the debate challenge but only if Anwar is joins in.

Over Facebook, Najib had said that two against one is “no problem”, in reference to the debate challenge.

He also said that this mirrored Senior Minister (International Trade and Industry) Datuk Seri Azmin Ali’s call for a debate regarding Felda during the Johor state election.

The Pekan MP had said Azmin could debate one-on-one or to bring in Perikatan Nasional (PN) chairman Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.

Najib also suggested that Rafizi debate with Selangor Barisan Nasional (BN) information chief Isham Jalil should Anwar not be interested in battling it out.

Both Rafizi and Najib had been trading barbs over corruption, abuse of power, and 1MDB even before 14th general elections in 2018.

Recently, Rafizi said Sapura's CEO received RM983 million in payments from 2009 to 2018 when Najib was in power.

He had also questioned Najib on why the latter had failed to look after the interests of public institutions such as Permodalan Nasional Berhad (PNB) and Retirement Fund Inc (KWAP) as they were part of shareholders in Sapura.

The Edge reported that Rafizi had advised Putrajaya against Najib’s call to bail out Sapura Energy.

In his statement, he had claimed that public funds should never be used to protect the interests of a handful of elites.