PETALING JAYA: A woman, who was named in a declassified report on the troubled littoral combat ship (LCS) project as wife to a then minister, has now said she was never married to him.
The woman, Zainab Salleh, named as spouse to former special functions minister Dr Abdul Latiff Ahmad, said she has no personal relationship with him.
She said PKR deputy president Rafizi Ramli had defamed her by referring to her as Latiff’s “second wife”.
She alleged the declassified report, “Review of the LCS Programme”, was prepared for Boustead Heavy Industries Corporation’s internal use, and was not meant for public viewing.
“A few pages in the report have been redacted,” she said in her letter of demand to Rafizi today.
Zainab claimed Rafizi — now the economy minister — had posted several statements on his social media accounts between Aug 22 and Nov 1 last year alleging she was Latiff’s “second wife”.
She wanted Rafizi to tender an apology within 14 days from today, failing which she would file a defamation lawsuit against him.
Last year, Latiff, the former Bersatu Mersing MP, denied Zainab was his “second wife”. He also filed a police report against Rafizi.
Rafizi then challenged Latiff to file a lawsuit against him if the latter thought he had been defamed.
In August last year, former defence minister Hishammuddin Hussein announced that a forensic audit report on the late delivery of the project’s navy frigates had been made public on the Parliament website.
The report was prepared for Boustead Heavy Industries Corporation, a major shareholder of Boustead Naval Shipyard Sdn Bhd, which is the contractor appointed by the defence ministry to build the frigates.
Hishammuddin added that Boustead had agreed to the declassification of the report.
The report named Latiff as Zainab’s spouse.
He was also named as a director of a company, although its name could not be ascertained due to the redactions.