Selangor MB wants MACC cited for contempt

Selangor Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim wants the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) and its former chief commissioner Ahmad Said Hamdan to be cited for contempt of court.

His call was prompted by their failure to fulfill the terms in an out of court settlement in Khalid's defamation suit against them for wrongly accusing him of corruption.

"I have instructed my lawyer, Sankara Nair, to initiate contempt of court proceedings against Ahmad Said, MACC and the government of Malaysia and any other action deemed relevant," Khalid (left) said in a statement today.

In the out-of-court settlement, Ahmad Said had on March 19apologised to Abdul Khalid in open court for accusing the latter of abusing power.

He was also to have an apology published on the front pages of two newspapers, namely the New Straits Times and The Star, within four days, which did not happen.

"Ahmad Said, MACC and the government of Malaysia have acted arbitrarily and irresponsibly by deliberately refusing the court order (to publish an apology) within four days.

'Fallen on deaf ears'

"To date, they have still failed to execute (the order) even though my lawyer has demanded that the defendant do so," he said.

Khalid said the "uncalled-for behaviour" of the defendants was aimed at perpetuating defamatory statements against him.

"This behaviour is consistent with the Umno-BN government's attitude to belittle the judiciary.

"There is no remorse and they assume that they are above the law in this country," he said.

Ahmad Said (right) had, at a press conference in Penang four years ago, said Khalid could be charged with abuse of power in the purchase of the cowsand maintenance of a luxury car that he personally owned.

However, Khalid was cleared by the MACC about a year later and the decision was affirmed by the commission's operations review panel in July 2010.

In his statement of claim filed on April 27, 2009, Khalid said Ahmad Said's remark meant that he was dishonest in his private and official capacity, guilty of corrupt practice, untrustworthy, unprincipled, had committed a criminal offence, was unethical, abused his position and was unfit to be a politician.