AZALINA 'THREATENS' GANI WITH BREACH OF OSA: WHY DID AG SHARE CLASSIFIED INFO WITH MUHYIDDIN

KUALA LUMPUR — Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said asserted today that Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin’s disclosure of a purported charge against the prime minister was solid evidence of a “high-level conspiracy” to remove Datuk Seri Najib Razak from office through undemocratic means.

The minister in the Prime Minister’s Department went a step further and said that Muhyiddin’s admission only came after he was suspended as deputy Umno president, and suggested that her fellow Johorean lawmaker may be complicit in the ouster plot against his boss.

“Why only now is Tan Sri Muhyiddin making such a confession, just after he was suspended as the Deputy President? What is his hidden motive and agenda? Can his act be seen as abetting since he claims to have information on an alleged criminal act, but did not report to the authorities until today?‎” she asked in a statement.

The Pengerang MP was referencing the Pagoh MP’s Facebook statement this morning in response to the unanimous suspension decision by Umno’s powerful supreme council.

In the lengthy statement, Muhyiddin claimed to have been briefed by a former attorney-general while both were still in office, of an alleged criminal proof against the prime minister over controversial RM2.6 billion money deposits purportedly funneled through companies linked at one point or another with state-owned 1 Malaysia Development into his personal account.

“Former Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin said today that he was briefed by the former Attorney General, when both were in office, about alleged criminal ‘proof’ against the Prime Minister.

“This is an admission that there was a high-level conspiracy to topple the Prime Minister, in what would have been a coup against democratic process and the decision of the people at the last General Election,” Azalina said.

She added that if true, both Muhyiddin and the former public prosecutor would have broken the law together.

“Firstly, the fact that a sitting Attorney General was privately briefing and sharing classified legal information with Tan Sri Muhyiddin, a member of Cabinet and Umno member who clearly had vested interests, is not only unethical but also a breach of the Official Secrets Act,” she said.

She also challenged the possibility of charges being drawn up when an investigation had yet to be launched on the controversy at that point.

In a reminder, she pointed out that charges can only be framed after investigations are conducted and the authorities are certain a wrong has been perpetuated.

“But, in this case, a charge sheet was said to be drawn up in May 2015 -- before the so-called Special Task Force was formed, before the investigation was started in June

2015, and certainly before the Prime Minister was interviewed in December 2015 by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission. This proves that there was a conspiracy,” Azalina said.

She questioned if these were the so-called confidential documents cited by US publication Wall Street Journal in its series of reports against Najib.

Azalina said the current Attorney-General Tan Sri Mohamed Apandi Ali has cleared Najib of any wrongdoing only after a detailed investigation from all angles on the report submitted by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission.

“So it seems that Tan Sri Muhyiddin was not only in breach of the Official Secrets Act, but was also complicit in a politically-motivated conspiracy to manipulate and abuse our legal system in order to overthrow a democratically elected Prime Minister,” she added.

News portal Malaysiakini reported that former AG Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail was contacted for comment on Muhyiddin’s statement but declined.

“I do not want to comment anything,” he was quoted as saying.  - Malay Mail