'Let Dr M talk and talk, police will pin more charges on him'

Deputy Home Minister Nur Jazlan Mohamed said that police are piling up more evidence to build a more serious case against former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

"No, we will not stop him (from talking); now we let him talk and talk. Maybe police want to pile more evidence to bring more serious charges against Mahathir," said Nur Jazlan when asked if authorities will do anything to stop Mahathir's constant criticism.

He said that the police would only take action against the former Umno veteran when they are satisfied that their prosecution of the case will be successfully proven in court.

"The thing now is that Mahathir has publicly called for the ouster of the prime minister, admitted that he talked to (former police commando) Sirul (Azhar Umar Sirul) and other actions that have legal implications, and we should let police investigate.

"Let the police take action; instead of just one offence, we might as well pile up 10 to 20 more. The more he speaks, the more he offends.

"When the police are satisfied (then they will act); they want to make sure that when they prosecute in court, they will be succesfull," he told reporters in Putrajaya today.

Yesterday, Nur Jazlan said that Mahathir might have uttered seditious words when he said that the people must come up with an out-of-the-box solution on how to oust Najib, adding that the police will quiz the ex-premier and take action if an offence is apparent.

On a related matter, the deputy minister hit out at the Malaysian Bar Council for acting like a political party instead of a legal body, labelling it as "unprofessional".

"Why would they want to defend those who commit an offence? The Malaysian Bar is no longer professional and is acting like a political party," he said.

"It is using the platform for politics and not to fight for the welfare of lawyers," he said.

He was referring to the gathering of lawyers at the federal police headquarters in Bukit Aman to protest alleged police interference in the Bar's affairs.

The police have called four of the Bar's members for questioning under the Sedition Act over a motion tabled at the group's AGM calling on attorney-general Mohamed Apandi Ali to resign for refusing to prosecute Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak for the RM2.6 billion donation and the RM42 million SRC cases. -Mkini