Rahman Dahlan’s claims prove Najib obstructed justice, say activists

C4 executive director Cynthia Gabriel says Datuk Seri Abdul Rahman Dahlan admiited that Datuk Seri Najib Razak resorted to drastic measures that incriminated the prime minister. – The Malaysian Insider file pic, August 18, 2015. 

Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan has incriminated his own boss Datuk Seri Najib Razak for obstruction of justice after claiming the prime minister had "taken people out" after an alleged draft charge sheet against him emerged, two activist groups said today.

Human rights group Lawyers for Liberty (LFL) and anti-graft outfit Centre to Combat Corruption and Cronyism (C4) said they were shocked at the claims that Rahman had made in an interview with The Star recently.

"What is shocking and appalling is his admission of the 'pre-emptive steps' taken  that had clearly amounted to among others, a prima facie criminal offence of obstruction under Section 186 of the Penal Code and/or Section 48 of the MACC Act," said LFL executive director Eric Paulsen in a statement today.

C4 executive director Cynthia Gabriel, meanwhile, told The Malaysian Insider that Rahman's admission that the prime minister had resorted to "taking drastic action" had "most certainly incriminated Najib".

"The revelations by Rahman are shocking. The arrests, raids, transfers and threats on our public institutions have grave ramifications and are tantamount to clear obstruction of the task force investigations by our prime minister," she said.

In an interview with The Star published Sunday, Rahman said Najib had to "take people out" when an alleged draft charge sheet against him was brought to light. 

Rahman, who is urban wellbeing, housing and local government minister, had reminded the public that the new attorney-general, Tan Sri Mohamed Apandi Ali, considered the alleged charge sheet to be false and part of a plot to criminalise Najib. 

"Given that scenario, what would you do? You would take drastic action, wouldn’t you? Okay, take these people out first so that things will get back to normalcy and see what will happen next. 

"If you could appreciate that scenario, then you would understand the flurry of action taken by the PM," Rahman, who is the Barisan Nasional (BN) strategic communications director, was quoted as saying in the interview.

Rahman (pic) is believed to be referring to the sudden transfers of two Malaysia Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) officers, as well as the questioning of several of the agency's other officers in a police probe into leaked information on investigations into 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB).

Besides the moves against anti-graft investigators, the task force which had been probing 1MDB and the transfer of RM2.6 billion to Najib's personal accounts has also been disbanded, while the attorney-general was also changed during the probe.

Paulsen said it was appalling that Rahman seemed to indicate that the prime minister cannot and should not be investigated as the probe had "criminalised" him.

The lawyer said the aim of an investigation was to "build up a case" by collecting evidence, adding that in the process, a suspect can be "criminalised" and prosecuted.

"It would be preposterous for any enforcement agency not to 'criminalise' a suspect in any investigation, provided there is sufficient evidence, as that would defeat the purpose of having an investigation in the first place.

"No one is above the law including the prime minister and no investigation against him should be misrepresented to the public as 'criminalising' or 'toppling the government'," Paulsen (pic) said.

In light of what Rahman said, Gabriel urged Najib to step down from all government positions, including as finance minister, to allow MACC to complete its probe without fear and favour, adding that the prime minister should also come clean on the RM2.6 billion deposited into his personal accounts.

LFL also said Putrajaya should tell the people the truth about the money that went into Najib's accounts rather than allow him and other ministers to make "outlandish" statements one after the other.

- TMI