The MACC Way to whitewash the crimes of A-G Gani Patail

December 17, 2010

The MACC Way to whitewash the crimes of A-G Gani Patail

by Din Merican

Yesterday, the mainstream media, especially the NST and The Star, gave much publicity to MACC’s press conference at which the MACC stated that they have found new evidence in the case against the former Chairman of Malaysia Airlines (MAS),Tan Sri Tajuddin Ramli. As if in glee, the Chairman of MACC’s Operation Evaluation Panel, Tan Sri Hadenan Abdul Jalil, took the opportunity to silence critics by stressing that “claims by certain quarters that the MACC did not investigate the allegation is, therefore, untrue”.

Really? Is it true that MACC has always been investigating the MAS scandal? What mischief and trickery is this? Could Tan Sri Hadenan be suffering from selective amnesia, or was he fed with wrong or false information by the MACC?

Has Tan Sri Hadenan forgotten that Malaysia Today had posted the MACC’s official reply to Malaysia Airlines (MAS) where the MACC clearly said that they were not investigating the Tajuddin case but had instead referred the matter back to the Police? Wasn’t that’s what the whole uproar was about that led all the alternative media to remind the MACC Chief Commissioner, Dato’ Seri Abu Kassim Mohamed about his public pledge that he will resign if big fishes are not investigated.

As a matter of integrity, I invite Tan Sri Hadenan to correct his statement. Otherwise, I will reproduce that MACC letter just to expose Tan Sri Hadenan as either lying publicly or is being used by the MACC to mislead the public. But let’s not go down that route.

Let me jolt everyone’s memory that it is on record that the MACC had slept on the Tajuddin case. MACC did nothing for more than one year from the time MASKargo’s Managing Director Shahri Sulaiman made his report to the MACC in 2009. The MACC had NFA (No Further Action)’d the case.

MASKargo’s Managing Director Shahri Sulaiman made his report to the MACC in 2009.

MACC did nothing until public pressure mounted after PAS vice-president Salahuddin Ayub, who is part of the Parliamentary Committee on Corruption, had claimed that the MACC was holding back in probing the case. Public pressure mounted after Raja Petra Kamarudin’s (RPK) Malaysia Today exposed that the MAS case was closed because AG Gani is in the pockets of Tajudin. Public pressure mounted because A-G Gani was caught consorting with Tajudin’s proxy, an ex-policeman once charged for bribery called – Shahidan Shafie.

Things got hot for A-G Gani Patail when MACC’s own Panel Adviser, Tan Sri Robert Phang, demanded Gani Patail to explain his relationship with Shahidan Shafie. Tan Sri Phang asked AG Gani Patail to deny that he did not book his haj trip nor shared a room with Sahidan. Tan Sri Phang expected Gani’s conduct as Attorney General to be beyond reproach. Tan Sri Phang was too polite to call Gani Patail a scumbag, but he was blunt enough to say that Gani Patail is the root cause for the negative perceptions against the Government and the MACC. Tan Sri Phang referred to Gani’s conduct as “Seperti ketam megajar anaknya berjalan lurus”.

Mr. Fix It - Numero Uno

Call Tan Sri Robert Phang a loose canon if you want to, but those are pretty strong words to use on an incumbent Attorney-General. You can’t help but admire Tan Sri Phang for being that brave.

Things got tougher still for Abu Kassim and A-G Gani Patail when they can’t explain why Tajuddin was not investigated for causing the MAS losses reported at RM 8 billion, but instead, they brutally arrested and charged Lawyer Rosli Dahlan who was tasked by MAS to pursue civil and criminal actions against Tajudin. So, was that part of the plan that they charged Rosli in the hope to close the MAS investigation?

Abu Kassim and AG Gani Patail can’t explain why Tajuddin was not investigated for causing the MAS losses reported at RM 8 billion. Because of Tajuddin’s links to these two ex PMs ?

And how did the MACC discover this new trail of evidence? Did the omnipotent MACC use their super duper sophisticated investigation skills to lead them to this new evidence? Let me tell you how this evidence came about.

All this new evidence came from Malaysia Today. Evidence that the public had been privy to since 2007 in the long running series ‘The Untold MAS Story Parts 1 to 10’. So, if counting from 2007, it sure took the MACC a long time to follow this lead after the public already knew what had happened, including the fleecing of MAS by former PM Abdullah Badawi’s family in the LSG-Skychef catering contracts.

So why the sudden recent reactions from MACC? Because the BN government needs to clean the slate for the general elections.Because now A-G Gani Patail is exposed. There is a need to cover up for and to clear Gani Patail’s name. Just like what was done in the “Black Eye Incident”, the MACC is now being used to clear Gani Patail and other BN leaders. Do you realise that there are two parts to the MACC’s press conference?

Black Eye Incident

The first part is to pacify the public that there is an investigation going on. There is no mention that the MACC will do anything against Tajuddin, just that there are new leads. As to whether that will result in any prosecution is still the prerogative of A-G Gani Patail.

The second part of the press conference is to clear corruption allegations against BN leaders like Wee Ka Siong. To be seen as impartial and as a sweetener to the opposition, they also cleared Kelantan Menteri Besar Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat for the RM65,000 “sponsorship” for the hajj pilgrimage last year and credited this decision to A-G Gani Patail :

“The Attorney-General finds that no charges can be made, as Nik Aziz has never requested to be sponsored for the Hajj trip, and did not complete the pilgrimage to Mecca last year.”

HRH Sultan of Kelantan Menteri Besar Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat and Minister of International Trade and Industry who is also the Kelantan UMNO Liaison chairman Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed performed the obligatory pilgrimage this year, TOGETHER.

It seems that A-G Gani and the MACC are trying to win over PAS by closing the investigations against Nik Aziz. They are also trying to neutralise allegations about A-G Gani Patail going for Haj with Tajuddin’s proxy, Shahidan Shafie. This is an attempt to draw a similarity between the two Haj trips. Thus, the allegations surrounding A-G Gani Patail and Shahidan should end. So, PAS should stop making an issue over sponsored Haj trips.

This is a most blatant way to clear Gani Patail’s name. This is the MACC way to whitewash the crimes of A-G Gani Patail.

courtesy of Din Merican