PUTRAJAYA: PKR secretary-general Rafizi Ramli will stand trial for allegedly leaking confidential bank details linked to the National Feedlot Corporation (NFCorp), after the Federal Court yesterday dismissed his appeal to strike out the charge.

The Pandan MP had turned to the Federal Court in an attempt to have the charge against him struck out, after he was charged with violating the Banking and Financial Institutions Act (Bafia) in the Sessions Court in August 2012.

Deputy public prosecutor Nahrah Dola told a five-man bench led by Tan Sri Raus Sharif that the Federal Court lacked jurisdiction to hear the appeal.

“This matter which originated in the Sessions Court must end in the Court of Appeal and not go beyond that,” she said.

Raus then struck out the appeal and ordered the case to be mentioned before the Sessions Court judge in Shah Alam today.

On May 23, 2013, the Court of Appeal dismissed Rafizi’s appeal to strike out the charge.

A three-member panel chaired by Datuk Seri Mohamed Apandi Ali said there was no merit in the appeal because the charge was against public policy.

Rafizi was charged in August 2012 with revealing four Public Bank customer-profile documents on the balance summaries of the NFCorp, National Meat and Livestock Sdn Bhd, Agroscience Industries Sdn Bhd and NFCorp chairman, Datuk Seri Mohamad Salleh Ismail.

He allegedly disclosed the documents to media consultant Yusuf Abdul Alim and to The Star reporter Erle Martin Carvalho, at the PKR headquarters in Petaling Jaya on March 7, 2012.

On Sept 10, 2012, Rafizi filed an application in the High Court to strike out the charge.

He then appealed to the Court of Appeal after his application was dismissed by the High Court on Nov 23, 2012. — The Malaysian Insider

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on April 7, 2015.