Ex-cop must lodge police report on Gani, says Abu Talib

A former police detective will not see any investigation into his allegations of wrongdoings by the attorney general unless a police report is lodged, a former top government lawyer said when commenting on the explosive claims.

Former AG Tan Sri Abu Talib Othman said that retired Kuala Lumpur CID director Datuk Mat Zain Ibrahim must lodge a police report if he has evidence of criminal wrongdoings by Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail (pic).

"He was a senior police officer and must have evidence against Gani (the current AG) before making a report and stand by what he alleges.

"I am saying this not in support of Gani but to protect the public office of the AG," he told The Malaysian Insider.

He was responding to Mat Zain's insistence that police could investigate Gani based on the contents of his statutory declaration (SD) without lodging a police report.

Mat Zain drew attention to Sections 107 and 107A of the Criminal Procedure Code related to information given to the police and their powers to investigate.

He refused to comment further but said "more will be revealed in due time".

Abu Talib, who was AG from 1980 to 1993, also questioned why Mat Zain was insisting that police investigate Gani based on the SD.

"We do not know if he has an agenda. No point in him hiding behind the SD whose contents may be hearsay.”

Abu Talib said justice must be done if the police report contained elements of criminality.

"Of course, Mat Zain is also open to prosecution if he lodges a false report against Gani.”

Mat Zain had said that he had handed a copy of the SD to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and senior Putrajaya officials, alleging wrongdoings by Gani over the Pulau Batu Puteh case.

In 2008, the International Court of Justice in the Hague, Netherlands ruled that the sovereignty of the island, half the size of a football field, belonged to Singapore.

In the 31-page SD, Mat Zain had claimed that hundreds of millions of ringgit had changed hands and deposited into a Hong Kong bank account over this case.

Mat Zain had also alleged that Gani had deliberately lost the case, resulting in the ICJ ruling in favour of Singapore. He urged the authorities to investigate the reason Malaysia lost the island to Singapore, saying the matter involved the country's sovereignty.

The former cop had said the reason he came out with the SD was to convince Putrajaya to establish a royal commission of inquiry over the loss of Pulau Batu Puteh to Singapore.