Rafizi: Pro-Umno blogger ‘Papa Gomo’ an ex-cop, convict, phantom voter

Rafizi provided MACC records to show the former policeman’s conviction for graft. — File picKUALA LUMPUR, March 22 ― A pro-Umno blogger, sued by Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim this week for posting photographs from an allegedly fake sex video, is a former policeman convicted of bribery and an alleged “phantom voter” registered to vote in two different locations, PKR’s Rafizi Ramli alleged today.
“Investigation showed that the individual named Wan Muhammad Azri Wan Deris (Papa Gomo) is a former traffic policeman with the rank of corporal that was sentenced to jail for the offence of threatening someone suspected to be a drug addict to get bribes,” the PKR strategy director said.
Following the allegation, Rafizi also showed reporters an entry in the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission’s (MACC) database with the name of the policeman from the Ampang traffic police and his police identity card (IC) number.
Using the police IC number shown in the MACC database and Papa Gomo’s ordinary IC number, Rafizi said PKR found that the blogger was registered as a voter in two parliamentary constituencies ― Ampang and Wangsa Maju.
He then showed the two different entries in the Election Commission’s (EC) website, saying that the differing dates of birth recorded there had led PKR to investigate the addresses used by Papa Gomo.
A screen capture of the MACC website shows Wan Muhammad Azri’s recorded corruption conviction.Rafizi claimed that court documents and official correspondence showed that Papa Gomo had listed two addresses, one within Ampang and his current residence within Wangsa Maju, saying that the traffic policeman was likely to have used the first address when serving in Ampang.
Asked for proof that Papa Gomo was the same man in the MACC database which did not list the policeman’s ordinary IC number, Rafizi again pointed to court documents that could match the two IC numbers, saying he wanted to wait for the blogger’s response before showing them.
Rafizi also said background checks conducted by PKR in Ampang showed that people there remember the blogger as having worked as a policeman.
When asked if there was a possibility that the traffic policeman could be someone else who shared Papa Gomo’s name, Rafizi said it was “highly unlikely”.
“I don’t think there would be two Wan Muhammad Wan Deris at the same IPD (district police headquarters),” he said.
Rafizi urged the EC, which has been criticised for allegedly failing to keep a clean electoral roll, to answer the allegation of the existence of phantom voters.
He also questioned why the voter entry with the police IC address was still in the electoral roll, saying that the policeman would no longer be in the police force, although Rafizi acknowledged that he had not seen any documents proving that.
He pointed instead to the disciplinary procedure by the police force, where he said that a policeman would be suspended when accusations are brought against him and would be sacked if found guilty.
“I am very sure that he has been suspended and sacked for a very long time,” Rafizi said.
Yesterday, Anwar’s lawyers filed a defamation suit against Papa Gomo, with the opposition leader seeking RM100 million in damages and an injunction to stop the blogger from republishing the allegedly defamatory accusations.
In the statement of claim that was filed yesterday, the blogger was identified as Wan Muhammad Azri Wan Deris, with a civilian IC number and an address within the Wangsa Maju constituency that Rafizi had referred to. No police IC number was mentioned in that document.
In the court document, references were made to three blog postings — with the first one posted last Saturday — by Papa Gomo that contained allegedly defamatory words and photographs.
Last Saturday, Anwar denied being the man involved in the photographs, claiming that it was a “disgusting political gimmick by Umno”.
Anwar’s lawyer N. Surendran on Tuesday alleged that Papa Gomo has “close ties” with Umno, while also saying that the photographs were fake and were used by Anwar’s political enemies to tarnish the opposition leader’s image ahead of Election 2013.