[UPDATED] Not that Zainab: Dialog Group CFO’s daughter denies mum involved in LCS saga

KUALA LUMPUR – The daughter of one Zainab Mohd Salleh has rubbished accusations that her mother is the woman recently named in the littoral combat ships (LCS) controversy as Datuk Abdul Latiff Ahmad’s wife despite having a similar name to the Mersing MP’s spouse.

In a brief message to The Vibes, Syaza Nazura denied her mother’s involvement in the contentious project, asserting that the woman mentioned is a different individual.

“The Zainab mentioned (Latiff’s second wife) is NOT my mother,” she said.

The Zainab Mohd Salleh in the Paradise Papers refers to the spouse of Mersing MP and not the CFO of Dialog Group Berhad as you had mentioned.

Zainab (CFO) is married to Dr Noor Azmi (pic).

Please retract your statement and issue a public apology.

Link: https://t.co/YKRiLmrQQK https://t.co/VkakkHeDeV pic.twitter.com/5N9xWhLMaS

— Syaza Nazura ? (@nazu2308) August 22, 2022

In a Twitter post, Syaza Nazura confirmed that her mother, who is a chief financial officer (CFO) at oil and gas firm Dialog Group Bhd, is not the individual called out by PKR deputy president Rafizi Ramli today.

Syaza’s tweet was a response to a Twitter thread by Parti Aspirasi Sains Malaysia president Kenneth Chai who claimed Dialog Group’s Zainab is the woman involved in alleged misconduct related to the LCS project.

“The Zainab Mohd Salleh in the Paradise Papers refers to the spouse of Mersing MP (Latiff) and not the CFO of Dialog Group as you had mentioned.

“Please retract your statement and issue a public apology,” she said.

Chai has since deleted his tweets on Zainab and Dialog Group, apologising to those affected in a separate tweet.

I would like to publicly apologise to Pn Zainab Binti Mohd Salleh & Dialog Group Berhad whom I mentioned in my Twitter thread 2 days ago, wrongly connecting Pn Zainab, the CFO of Dialog Group Berhad, to the LCS financial transactions.

— ?™ ? (@ruffleseed) August 22, 2022

“This is a mistake on my part which I regret and understand to have caused unnecessary distress to (Zainab’s) family,” he said, adding that he has privately contacted Syaza to make amends.

Dialog Group also issued a statement clarifying the matter, warning that legal action will be taken against those who issue “false accusations or misleading statements” towards the company, its subsidiaries or employees.

“We wish to alert the public that our group CFO and joint company secretary (Zainab) has been falsely identified as a shareholder of Alizes Marine Ltd.

“(Dialog Group’s Zainab) is the spouse of Dr Noor Azmi Mat Adenan, a consultant gynaecologist-oncologist at Ara Damansara Medical Centre,” it said.

Earlier today, Rafizi alleged that Latiff, who is currently special functions minister and Mersing MP, as well as his apparent spouse Zainab, had been heavily involved in the LCS project worth over RM9 billion.

Latiff, however, has since denied that Zainab is his wife.

Rafizi’s claims regarding Zainab are based on an internal investigation into the LCS project, which found her to be the shareholder of Malta-based Alizes Marine Ltd, an offshore incorporated company that allegedly transferred funds from the LCS project to accounts overseas in fraudulent transactions amounting to RM23.37 million.

He went on to assert Zainab’s association with Latiff by citing an excerpt from the internal probe report, which he claimed explicitly stated their relationship.

Latiff was deputy defence minister from 2008 to 2013, a ministry then helmed by current Umno president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

Rafizi’s exposé today follows a string of revelations made by the PKR man in recent weeks pertaining to the contentious project to deliver six combat vessels to the Royal Malaysian Navy.

Yesterday, he had teased the claim that he had evidence of a politician pocketing money from the LCS project and that the person’s identity would be revealed today.

“(This is to) prove that the misconduct involved politicians too so that not only the ‘ikan bilis’ (anchovies) will be made the scapegoat. This culture of embezzlement has been Umno’s DNA.” – The Vibes, August 22, 2022