Copgate: Here’s what you must do, Phang tells cops

KUALA LUMPUR: Robert Phang, the philanthropist turned social activist, has drawn up a series of steps to help the government dispel the growing notion that it has something to hide in the affair that is now known as ‘copgate’.He said the reports made by former CCID director Ramli Yusuff against Attorney-General Gani Patail and former IGP Musa Hassan “that have now come into the public domain” must be investigated by the police without bias.

“The integrity of AG Abdul Gani Patail impacts on the whole system of justice in this country,” Phang said in a statement.He said the police must show they are indeed capable of conducting a probe without bias by putting together an investigative team that is totally independent of all that has transpired.
“Exclude CID director, Bakri Zinin, from this investigation. This is to protect Bakri from any allegations of being connected to AG Gani Patail,” said Phang.


He said independent minded investigators like CCID director Syed Ismail Syed Azizan who recommended that the National Feedlot Corporation should be prosecuted for the ‘Cowgate’ scandal should be considered to head the team.Phang said the police should be careful not to allow any politician, no matter how high that politician may be, from preventing them from carrying out their duty “as that is the oath of duty of a professional police force”.

The investigation, he said, should focus on the truth of the various Statutory Declarations (SD) by all those involved as well as the alleged cover-ups for Goh Cheng Poh in the money-lending syndicate investigations and circumvention of police work in that case.Other important evidence that has been exposed include the handing over of confidential police files and the refusal of the AG to act to represent Ramli and his officers, the use of suspicious evidence and the detention of his lawyer.

Phang also wants the police to investigate the failure by the AG to follow the recommendation of the CCID to prosecute the former Malaysian Airlines chairman, Tajudin Ramli who is being sued by the airline for breach of fiduciary duty.

‘Consorting together’

Such a probe would also reveal the relationship between Gani and Tajudin’s proxy, Shahidan Shafie who was previously charged for corruption while he was OC Secret Societies of Johor, he said.
The investigation, he said, would make clear “whether it is proper conduct for an Attorney-General to fraternise with a person of ill-repute (Shahidan Shafie) especially when that person is connected to an on-going investigations by the police and the MACC.

“Their consorting together is evident as exposed in the Haj scandal with photographs and other supporting Tabung Haji documents,” said Phang.Rounding off the list of remarkable dealings by the AG that needed to be investigated by the police, he said was the corporate tussle in construction company Ho Hup Sdn Bhd as evidenced by photographs of the AG at Ho Hup’s office and the prosecution of the other side.
Former CCID Ramli has accused Gani, Musa and the MACC of conspiring to discredit him and his men for arresting alleged underworld figure Goh Cheng Poh also known as ‘Tengku Goh’.

The former CCID alleged that the then ACA now known as the MACC had relied on a dubious character to charge him for corruption with assets worth RM27 million when he was a police officer.An emergency motion tabled by opposition parliamentarians to set up a tribunal to hear the charges against Gani and Musa was rejected during the on-going sitting.Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak last week rejected calls for the tribunal, saying it was unsubstantiated allegations.


posted by tan sri robert phang