Police raid three of Nizar's offices

Yesterday the police raided three offices of former Perak menteri besar Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin in Ipoh, Bukit Gantang and Pasir Panjang, believed to be related to his earlier remark on the Johor sultan’s purchase of the ‘WWW1' car number-plate.

Malay daily Sinar Harian reported that the operation began at around 11.30am concurrently at Perak PAS headquarters located in Ipoh, the service centre of the Bukit Gantang MP in Taiping, and the service centre of the Pasir Panjang assemblyperson in Lumut.

Nizar, who is MP for Bukit Gantang and state assemblyperson for Pasir Panjang, was attending the Parliament meeting in Kuala Lumpur when the raid took place.

The police also came to his house in Sungai Rokam, Ipoh, but no raid was conducted as Nizar was not around.

Perak PAS spokesperson Safarizal Saleh told Sinar Harian that the police had obtained a search warrant from the court to search for evidence at the three premises.

However, he said the raid was quite a surprise because no prior notice was given.

“Throughout the investigation, we gave good cooperation. A few of our lawyers even helped them in their operation. 

“I was informed that the operation lasted around 30 to 45 minutes, but I am not sure whether they found any evidence,” he said, adding that no interview was done with the staff at the three premises.

The Johor ruler had submitted the top bid of RM520,000 to acquire the much sought-after ‘WWW1' number-plate last month, breaking the record set by ‘MCA 1' that was sold for RM300,100 in 2010.

There was widespread criticism of the bid in cyberspace, with one of the strongest comments coming from Nizar.

He said the money could have been spent to help the many poor Malays in Johor and used to build 20 houses for the hardcore poor.

Following protests from Umno, Malay NGOs and a dressing downfrom the ruler, Nizar offered an apology and sought an audiencewith the Johor sultan to explain his controversial remark, claiming that his tweet had been misrepresented by the mainstream media, in particular the Umno-owned daily Utusan Malaysia. 

He is also being investigated by the police under the Sedition Act.