PETALING JAYA: Rafizi Ramli (pic) claims that Datuk Seri Abdul Rahman Dahlan's move to sue him over nepotism allegations is meant to distract the public from Expo Negaraku's RM37mil price tag.
In a statement on Friday (Dec 15), Rafizi said he welcomed Abdul Rahman's decision to take legal action against him for mistakenly claiming that the Expo Negaraku contract was awarded to his "brother" Raslan Dahlan.
The PKR vice-president said the suit would give him a chance to question Abdul Rahman in court about the RM37mil that went into organising the month-long Expo Negaraku.
"Abdul Rahman had admitted in Parliament that the cost to organise the Expo Negaraku for a month was RM37mil.
"However, until now, he has yet to answer why the Economic Planning Unit under his leadership spent RM37mil while the Government is collecting GST and overdue taxes, and the price of goods is high," Rafizi said.
He said the Minister in the Prime Minister's Department had not answered questions on why there was no government procurement record for the RM37mil contract and why the event organiser was not selected from an open tender.
On Thursday (Dec 14), Abdul Rahman announced that he had appointed counsel Datuk M. Reza Hassan of Messrs Raja Riza & Associate to "exhaust all legal means" against Rafizi over the Expo Negaraku accusations.
Rafizi had earlier claimed that PICO Integrated Exhibit Sdn Bhd's chief executive officer Raslan was Abdul Rahman's brother.
After Abdul Rahman refuted this, Rafizi admitted he had made a mistake.
In a press conference on Tuesday (Dec 12), Rafizi said he was prepared to apologise to Raslan for his mistake but refused to apologise to Abdul Rahman.
The Pandan MP said he was happy if Abdul Rahman wanted to sue him because he would be able to subpoena witnesses through the legal system.
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