A former Public Bank Bhd employee accused of leaking banking details of the National Feedlot Corporation (NFC) directors to PKR maintained his innocence throughout the five-hour interrogation by Bank Negara Malaysia officers (BNM) yesterday.

NONE According to his lawyer Latheefa Koya, Johari Mohamad ( centre in photo ) maintained that he was not the whistleblower who provided information on the NFC directors' property purchases worth about RM10 million from KL Eco City.

Contacted last night, Latheefa said that at best, the matters that Johari was grilled on indicated that any evidence the authorities have against him would be "circumstantial".

These include CCTV footage from Public Bank's Jinjang branch that is said to show Johari sitting at his desk, working and printing out some documents.

"They said: ‘Look, you printed something. Is this what you printed?' and showed him documents with PKR letterheads on them. He maintained his innocence," she said.

cartoon-o-phobia zunar press conference in malaysiakini latheefa koya "Apart from that, it seems like (BNM) did not have much to show," Latheefa ( left ) said, stressing that the documents could not be linked to her client.

She said that when Johari was asked about certain PKR leaders, he replied that he did not personally know the opposition party's director of strategy Rafizi Ramli, vice-president Nurul Izzah Anwar or Wanita chief Zuraida Kamaruddin.

"He seems uninterested in politics and didn't even vote in the last general election. He only approached PKR (for assistance) very recently," she said.

‘Johari may be called in again'

According to Latheefa, BNM's senior executive for special investigations, Nur Shareena Rosli, said that the former bank clerk, who quit on May 2 after being unable to cope with the pressure from the investigation, may be called in again.

"He got his handphone back, but they did not ask him about it," she said.

Johari is being investigated under Section 97 of the Banking and Financial Institutions Act 1987, which relates to the confidentiality of customers' banking details.

One who breaches this section is liable to a maximum jail sentence of three years and a fine of RM3 million upon conviction.

According to the notice of domestic inquiry Public Bank issued to Johari, the bank is investigating him for allegedly performing "an inquiry and printing of the Customer Profile-Balance Summary" from a specified workstation on Feb 16, 2012.

NONE He is accused of divulging the banking details of Mohamad Salleh ( left in photo ) and three companies owned by him and his family - Agroscience Industries Sdn Bhd, National Meat and Livestock Sdn Bhd and National Feedlot Corporation Sdn Bhd - between Feb 16 and March 7.

The outcome of the domestic inquiry held on May 2, the same day Johari tendered his resignation, is not yet known.