Two Umno MPs have reportedly denied links to an individual who is purportedly behind the firm that hired a US lobbyist to act on behalf of Putrajaya.

This followed Pandan MP Mohd Rafizi Ramli’s statement earlier today claiming that Johor Baru MP Shahrir Abdul Samad and Pulai MP Nur Jazlan Mohamed had known the individual, who is the president of a Johor Baru NGO.

Rafizi claimed that the person is the same individual who had signed off an agreement as the director of Godfrey Group Ltd, which, according to documents lodged at the US Department of Justice (DOJ), had hired the US firm the 45 Group and its chief executive officer Healy Baumgardner-Nardone as lobbyists for the Malaysian government.

US law requires lobbyists acting on behalf of foreign interests to register themselves with the DOJ under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (Fara), which in turn makes the documents available for public scrutiny...