PKR secretary-general Rafizi Ramli claims to be in possession of a copy of a letter showing the prime minister interfering in the affairs of a government-linked company (GLC).

Rafizi said in a statement today that the letter is written by an officer in the Prime Minister's Office and is addressed to the chief executive officer of the GLC mentioned.

In the letter, the GLC is instructed to ignore a notice of bankruptcy for an Umno division chief, related to a housing development, he said.

"The letter also clearly instructed (the GLC) to settle the bank loans (of the Umno division chief) outside of court," he added.

The Umno division chief involved has been one of the most vocal supporters of Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, Rafizi also noted.

Malaysiakini is currently seeking the responses of those named as involved and is withholding their names pending their responses.

Preliminary checks

Rafizi, who is also Pandan MP, said he has done some preliminary checks and believes that the letter he received is genuine.

"As such, I would like to remind the prime minister not to interfere in the affairs of any public organisations or companies, whether directly or indirectly.

"He should also instruct all cabinet ministers to refrain from issuing letters, such as this one, and to also stop meddling in the affairs of any public organisations or companies," he said.

It is regretful that Najib has yet to learn from the 1MDB scandal, which has undermined the finances of the country, all because of a culture of politicians meddling in the affairs of companies, Rafizi lamented.

He said the worst thing is that Najib can instruct a bank to ignore a bankruptcy notice on an Umno division chief even as thousands of the rakyat are losing their houses due to bankruptcy.