PETALING JAYA: It is untrue that the recent lawsuit against Rafizi Ramli on claims made against Sapura Energy Bhd (SEB) came about due to his new role as PKR deputy president, says Selangor Barisan Nasional information chief Isham Jalil (pic).

       Isham said the writ of summons by lawyers acting for former Sapura Energy chief executive officer Shahril Shamsuddin was received by Rafizi on May 11.

       "You were sued again for alleged defamation and slander with inaccurate information when you were back in politics.

       "This is your new habit," said Isham in a Facebook posting on Thursday (June 2).

       Rafizi secured the PKR deputy president post following unofficial results on Sunday (May 29) night.

       Without mincing his words, Isham took Rafizi to task for claiming further that he had won all of his court cases.

       Isham pointed out that Rafizi lost a court case by Rahman Dahlan in Sept 2018, and the newly-elected PKR deputy president was forced to apologise and pay RM20,000 in damages to the former minister.

       "You claim that you won all your court cases. But, you even lied about this," added Isham.

       Isham said it was entirely up to Rafizi if the former Pandan MP decided to continue practising negative politics.

       "My friends in Barisan and I will fight your negative politics with a new brand of positive politics that focuses on servicing the people to solve their issues now, which is the most critical moment," added Isham.

       Rafizi, in a statement on June 1, acknowledged that he received the writ of summons from lawyers representing Shahril in an event in Kuantan on May 11, at 11.30pm.

       However, later in his statement, Rafizi said his return into politics was "greeted" by Shahril's court case, and he also pledged to defend his statement in court.

       Rafizi also claimed that since 2010, he had gone through 14 court cases involving the National Feedlot Corporation (NFC), 1MDB, Majlis Amanah Rakyat, Tabung Haji, and Lembaga Angkatan Tentera.

       "So far, I have won all the lawsuits against me in court. In the court process, they can see for themselves the details of each financial scandal," added Rafizi.

       Rafizi was being sued by Sapura and he had said the legal suit is in reference to calls of a government bailout of SEB.