Former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad's lawyer has urged the authorities, namely the police, to investigate Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and inspector-general of police Khalid Abu Bakar over the ransom money allegedly paid to free Sarawakian hostages.
In a Facebook posting, Mohd Haniff Katri Abdulla said Section 6 of the Kidnapping Act 1961 is clear.
He said Section 6(1) states that "whoever knowingly negotiates or assists in any negotiation to obtain any ransom shall be guilty of an offence and shall be punished on conviction with imprisonment for a term not exceeding ten years and shall also be liable to whipping".
Meanwhile, Section 6(2) states "whoever knowingly negotiates or assists in any negotiation to pay or pays or provides funds for the payment of any ransom shall be guilty of an offence and shall be punished on conviction with imprisonment for a term not exceeding seven years and shall also be liable to a fine".
“It is clear from the provisions of the law that all parties including Zahid and Khalid must be investigated over the possibility of an offence under Section 6(2) of the Kidnapping Act.
“Who should be entrusted with the responsibility to investigate this? The answer is the police,” Haniff (photo) said.
To all concerned Malaysians, he said, there was no need for a deep analysis regarding the missing ransom money paid to the kidnappers.
The main issue is whether an offence was committed under Section 6(2), Haniff added.
“This is something which was not touched by the police till today," the lawyer said in his posting.On Saturday, several lawyers had said that it is an offence to negotiate or pay ransom as stated under Section 6(2).
The families of the four former Abu Sayyaf hostages insisted that they gave the RM12 million meant for ransom to the police. This despite a strong denial by Khalid that the police Special Branch personnel received the money.
Zahid had said that the RM12 million raised by the families of hostages was given to anIslamic body in the Philippines. However, he stressed that the payment was not a ransom.
However, the Manila Times reported yesterday that Abu Sayyaf militants allegedly received just P100 million (RM8.8 million) in exchange for the release of the four Sarawakian sailors.- mkini
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