Sarbaini widow lists proofs of MACC deception

She decries persistent efforts to defame the late customs officer

PETALING JAYA: The widow of customs officer Ahmad Sarbaini Mohamed today accused the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) of persisting in its attempt to defame her husband as a corrupt official.

She referred to a Sept 12 press statement by MACC lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah and called it another bid by the agency to wash itself of responsibility for her husband’s death.

In the statement, Shafee said Sarbaini fell to his death while trying to escape from the MACC building in Cheras to meet a friend so that they could synchronise their statements to the agency’s investigators.

“I no longer can cope with any more defamation just so MACC is not held responsible for my husband’s death,” Maziah Manap said in a press statement.

She said the MACC’s conclusion that Sarbaini was responsible for his own death was baseless and not supported by evidence given during the official inquest. She highlighted the following five factors as support for her argument:

• there has been no proof that Sarbaini was involved in corruption;

• there is no proven reason for him to be afraid and to try to escape;

• there is no basis for MACC’s theory that Sarbaini was trying to escape to warn his friend, Wan Zainalabidin, to synchronise their statements;

• the statements that investigators allegedly took from Sarbaini were works of mischief and deception; and

• deletion of CCTV footage of over 22 hours covering the time of the incident, as confirmed by forensic expert ASP Fauziah Che Mat.

The MACC is already reeling from the suspension of three senior officers earlier this week, who were arrested in connection with an extortion-and-robbery case involving RM1 million.

Highlighting this, Maziah said the MACC used propaganda to accuse others of wrongdoing but would always try to hide its own shortcomings.

She said she still held the hope that the real cause of her husband’s death would be known and the people responsible would be held accountable.

“Only then will the word ‘justice’ have true meaning to our family.”

Meanwhile, the decision on the inquest into Sarbaini’s death is set for Sept 26. The month-long inquest which began on July 4 saw 34 witnesses testify on the events leading up to his death.

Sarbaini worked at Port Klang Customs Department. He was among 62 officers detained on April 1 in a nationwide MACC probe of alleged tax evasion and money laundering involving billions of ringgit. His lifeless body was found sprawled on the first floor of the Federal Territory MACC building on April 6. He was 56.