‘Frightened Musa wants to save his skin’

Prominent lawyer Rosli Dahlan, who has dealt with Musa Hassan first hand, has an answer as to why the ex-IGP is reappearing in the media spotlight, flanked by PKR members.

PETALING JAYA: Musa Hassan’s sudden criticism of the government and the police is an attempt to reinvent his image and cosy up to Pakatan Rakyat out of fear that should the Barisan Nasional government fall, his head will be the first to roll, according to lawyer Rosli Dahlan.

The prominent lawyer, who previously represented Musa’s rival, ex CCID chief Ramli Yusuf, is currently pursuing a legal suit against Utusan Malaysia and 16 others in a case related to the former inspector-general of police’s purported links with underworld figures.

As such, Rosli has first hand experience with Musa and has nothing but scorn for the ex top-cop as well as his recent revelations of alleged ministerial interference and criminal elements in the police.

“Musa is a manipulator, opportunist and a liar. He is a principal lecturer at UiTM in media warfare, so we should not be surprised that he is using the media to reinvent his image,” he told FMT.

“Clearly, Musa knows he will be in trouble if Pakatan forms the next government,” added Rosli.

Former Kuala Lumpur CID chief Mat Zain previously accused Musa of fabricating evidence in Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim’s 1998 black eye Incident.

Rosli said Musa was also the investigating officer in Anwar’s first sodomy charge and the incumbent IGP when the second sodomy charge was “orchestrated”.

“So it is no surprise that he now becomes a turncoat, against the government that gave him his mercurial rise to be IGP and enjoyed two extensions by contract in order to save his own skin,” he added.

Musa appeared at a press conference late last month with several NGO leaders linked to the opposition, fuelling speculation that he would be joining Pakatan Rakyat soon.

The press briefing was organised by a new NGO called the Malaysian Crime Watch Task, or MyWatch, and was the setting for which Musa dropped the bombshell that ministers allegedly meddled in police investigations.

Anwar later said that PKR was open to Musa joining them if he wished to do so, although Musa had firmly stated that he would remain neutral.

‘Leopard does not change its spots’

Commenting on this, Rosli said: “PKR must not forget the history of this man; a leopard does not change its spots.”

“To me, for PKR to be a credible opposition, it shouldn’t use characters who are known to have manipulated the system and fabricated evidence,” he added.

Rosli recounted that the ex-IGP’s own aide, ASP Noor Azizul Rahim Taharim, had called Musa a “pengkhianat” (traitor) in a 2009 statutory declaration (SD).

The document accused Musa of a slew of wrongdoings during his tenure and exposed how Musa had allegedly manipulated the police succession hierarchy with his associate, an underworld figure known as BK Tan, as well as silencing critics with transfers and trumped up charges.

“Never before in the history of this country has an active serving IGP faced such an accusation from his own ADC (aide de camp),” said Rosli.

“As for being a liar, it is not what I say, but the various people who have dealt with Musa including the damning judgment by Sessions Judge Supang Lian of the Kota Kinabalu court,” he added.

Rosli was referring to the 2007 case levelled by Musa against Ramli. Musa had accused Ramli of abusing his power in using a police Cessna plane for his personal benefit. However, the judge found that Ramli was in full uniform and was escorted by four other uniformed police personnel while conducting a border surveillance patrol.

“If the prosecution was serious about finding out the truth, they should have called the two police pilots as the first and second witnesses. Instead, the pilots were called close to the end of the trial. DPP Kevin Morais also amended the charge several times. That is how insidious these people are,” added Rosli.

Ramli was eventually acquitted without his defence being called.

When Musa became the final witness for the prosecution in order to rebut the other police witnesses who had given evidence supporting Ramli, the judge delivered the following stinging judgment against Musa:

“[Musa’s] evidence is unreliable and is to be disregarded and whatever he says in court lends to his discredit. I am in total agreement with the case for the defence that this lack of support of the evidence of [Musa] on this point lends to his discredit… I found however that the evidence of [Musa] on this to be unreliable and to be disregarded.”

According to Rosli that was a polite way of calling an active serving IGP a liar.

‘Trumped up charges due to Musa’

Rosli also touched on Musa’s purported links with underworld figure Goh Cheng Poh, aka Tengku Goh, in a case known as the Copgate affair, of which Rosli has first-hand knowledge due to his role as Ramli’s lawyer.

“Musa’s links with the underworld is borne out in the affidavit of Tengku Goh who made specific mention of him when Goh sought habeas corpus.

“Musa caused six rank and file officers to be charged so that the criminal Goh could be released.

“I know all these because I was fixed by the AG (Attorney-General Abdul Gani Patail) on a trumped up charge whereas all I did was to help the CCID (Ramli) when the AG abdicated his constitutional duty in refusing to prepare affidavits for the police,” revealed Rosli.

According to the lawyer, then deputy home minister Johari Baharom and Ramli had separately approached him for legal advice over the case surrounding Goh in 2007.

Ramli also sought Rosli’s advice on the allegations of corruption which at that time was sensationalised by the mainstream media as “The RM27m Cop” story. The story immediately fizzled out when Ramli was charged for nothing near that amount and was later acquitted without his defence being called.

In retaliation for helping Ramli and Johari, Rosli said that he then became a victim of trumped up charges courtesy of the Anti Corruption Agency (now the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission).

Rosli was charged for not declaring his assets, and was brutally handcuffed and detained on the eve of Hari Raya in 2007 while in his office, in full view of his partners and staff.

He was brought to the ACA headquarters in Putrajaya where he was held overnight, deprived of medical attention and not allowed to see his family, who were waiting outside.

But Rosli was eventually acquitted of all charges without having to come to his defence. In 2008, Rosli sued Utusan Malaysia which then apologised for sensational journalism, as well as the arresting officers and several others over the incident.

However, Rosli’s trial was recently scuttled by the Attorney General’s (AG) Chambers when they sought to prevent his witness statement from being read out in court, as it touches upon Gani’s alleged complicity to cover up Musa’s purported links to underworld figures as well as his alleged attempts to bring Ramli down.

Documents filed in Rosli’s trial also implicated the AG in a conspiracy to bring Rosli down because of Rosli’s involvement in the MAS case against Tajuddin Ramli.

In 2010, Malaysia Today posted pictures and documents of Gani performing the Hajj with Tajuddin’s proxy. However, the MACC cleared Gani of any wrongdoing.

The MACC also cleared Gani of any involvement with Sabah Chief Minister Musa Aman in the RM40 million seizure by the ICAC Hong Kong – a case which PKR strategy chief Rafizi Ramli is now pursuing.