Khalid Abu Bakar's comment on extradition premature when proper course of action comes from arrest warant and sanction from Attorney-General, says lawyer.
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s top cop seems to have put the cart before the horse over the report that billionaire T Ananda Krishnan and Astro All Asia Networks Plc Deputy Chairman Ralph Marshall have been issued with arrest warrants by Indian authorities.
Lawyer S N Nair said Malaysian police can only act on the Indian warrant of arrest after it is sanctioned by the Malaysian Attorney-General (AG).
He said normally a warrant of arrest was accompanied together with a request for the extradition.
“However, the two men could challenge the warrant of arrest and extradition order which could take some time to resolve because of avenues of appeal in our legal system ,” he told FMT.
The lawyer said this in response to Inspector-General of Police Khalid Abu Bakar’s statement yesterday that unless there was an extradition order, the police could not act on the warrants issued by India to arrest the two.
“The IGP has jumped the gun. You cannot extradite anyone without executing the warrant of arrest. It goes hand in hand,” he said.
Based on newspaper reports, Nair said it was unclear whether India has sought the assistance of the Malaysian AG to execute their warrant of arrest and simultaneously the request for extradition.
A report by an online news portal reported Khalid as saying that the requirement applied to all countries, except for Singapore.
“India needs to apply for an extradition via mutual legal assistance through the (Attorney-General’s) Chambers,” the nation’s top cop was quoted as saying by the portal.
Nair said since it appeared that India’s Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) was being hindered by Malaysian authorities to secure the two through an earlier request, it could still make another appeal to Malaysia.
Alternatively, he said, India could seek the assistance of Interpol by way of issuing a red notice.
“Should the duo travel outside Malaysia, Interpol in other countries can arrest and send them to India,” he added.
Bloomberg had reported on Saturday that a court in New Delhi, India, had issued arrest warrants for the Malaysian tycoon and Marshall over allegations of corruption involving the purchase of an Indian telecommunications company by Malaysian telco Maxis, which is controlled by the former.
The court said the matter of the alleged phone-licence corruption would be split into separate investigations for allegations pertaining to the two Malaysians and those involving former Indian Telecommunications Minister Dayanidhi Maran.
CBI sought the warrants of arrest to get Ananda and Ralph to face court proceedings following allegations that Maran improperly favoured an operator.
The report also stated that investigators told the court that they were seeking the arrest warrants as attempts to serve the two Malaysians with summonses to appear in court had failed.
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