RM2.6b issue: An open-and-shut case?

'The law doesn't care whether it's a donation, fee or gift, or whether the funds benefited Najib.'

KUALA LUMPUR: Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak is deemed guilty of corruption if it is proven that he secretly received the RM2.6 billion found in his personal bank accounts, even if the funds were not for his personal use, according to veteran journalist A Kadir Jasin.

He made the assertion in his latest blog posting by way of quoting someone who apparently knows the law. A reader of the blog, commenting on an earlier posting, had written: “The law is very clear. Any public officer who secretly receives monies for himself or for any other person … [or] organisation is guilty of a corruption offence.

“A case is considered a water tight case if the monies received is found in the suspect’s possession or control. The law is not bothered with whether the monies received is a donation or loan or fee or gift or whether the receiver had personally benefited or had not personally used the monies. Such is the standard required by the law of a holder of a public office.”

Kadir also referred to MACC chief Abu Kassim Mohamed’s proclamation of the anti-graft body’s independence in a recent interview with Sinar Harian, a subject he had discussed in an earlier posting.

He repeated the final paragraph in that posting: “Let us pray that Abu Kassim was stating the truth because, deep in my heart, I fear that it could be a ruse. I fear that his proclamation of independence has a hidden reason – to establish credibility, so that if ever the MACC were to find no case against Mohd Najib, the public would be forced to believe it.”

Kadir was replying to a critic who asked whether he would still be “adamant” that he’s right and would still “harp” on the issue if Abu Kassim were to say that Najib was not guilty of corruption in the case of the RM2.6 billion donation.

The critic speculated that Kadir “would be disappointed.”