‘WHO SAYS APANDI HAS NO INTEGRITY?’ IN SHOCK CLAIM, RAHMAN DAHLAN SUGGESTS MACC’S BAHRI TRIED TO ‘BETRAY’ NAJIB BUT WAS BLOCKED BY AG

The probe into SRC International Sdn Bhd did not culminate in a prosecution because there was no case, said BN strategic communications director Abdul Rahman Dahlan.

He said the attorney-general decides on whether a case is prosecuted or otherwise as check and balance to ensure there is no abuse of power, including by investigating bodies.

“If an investigator has the intention to betray someone he/she is investigating, the prosecutor can thwart this, and if the investigator and prosecutor collude, then the court can block this…

“If (investigation, prosecution and conviction) powers are not separated, it would be easy to betray an innocent person,” he said.

Abdul Rahman was responding to Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) former special operations division director Bahri Mohd Zin.

Bahri claimed that he opted for early retirement because of being frustrated with the SRC case.

Meanwhile, Abdul Rahman said it is unreasonble to assume a cover up in the SRC matter because not all cases investigated by the MACC end up in court.

He said the MACC special committee found that many cases were not prosecuted due to lack of evidence, faulty investigations and no merit.

“Why didn’t Bahri raise dissatisfaction in these cases? Why is he only raising the issue in a case involving the prime minister?” he asked in a  statement.

“The attorney-general cannot be said to have no integrity simply because he does not agree with Bahri’s (investigation) summary,” he added.

Abdul Rahman said even in court, judges might differ but this does not make the standing judgment false or suggest that the judge “has been bought”.

“We don’t want investigating agencies which operate without any check and balance, because we fear investigating officers will abuse their powers for their own interests,” he added.

SRC, which was previously a subsidiary of 1MDB and now under the Finance Ministry, came under the spotlight after RM42 million of its money was found in Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s personal bank account.

While MACC’s 1MDB investigations were complex and involved many overseas jurisdictions – with the attorney-general refusing to issue a mutual legal assistance to the commission to work with foreign investigators – the SRC case was clear-cut as it involved mostly local entities.

The SRC money was deposited into Najib’s accounts in two transactions – on Dec 26, 2014 and Feb 10, 2015 – after being routed through two companies, Gandingan Mentari Sdn Bhd and Ihsan Perdana Sdn Bhd.

Najib has reportedly claimed to be unaware about the money from SRC, and attorney-general Mohamed Apandi Ali cleared him of any wrongdoing.

–  M’kini