MACC's revelation of nine audio recordings from Najib Abdul Razak's tapped phone conversations was sub judice and contempt of court, claimed lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah.
The counsel who is representing Najib in his ongoing criminal trials related to 1MDB, said they are considering to initiate contempt action against the agency and its chief Latheefa Koya.
"You can see there are two or three cases these recordings seem to pertain. Clearly SRC is involved, 1MDB is involved. And the other case is Riza Aziz's matter which is also in court.
"Releasing the tape now and discussing in public in media release is, in fact, a sub judice and in fact a contempt. We are seriously contemplating contempt action against MACC, in particular, Latheefa Koya," he told reporters when met at the Kuala Lumpur Courts Complex this evening.
According to Shafee, what were revealed by Latheefa (above) in the media conference can influence the ongoing trials against Najib.
"Because these are the things that makes Datuk Seri Najib less credible, or the public and court may even think that he is guilty, (thinking) why was he speaking like that to the head of state, speaking like that to his own wife, with Tan Sri Dzul (former MACC chief Dzulkifli Ahmad).
"So these are the things that can influence, these are what sub judice is about. And it is contemptuous," he said.
Among conversations that was released to the public this morning include between Najib and Dzulkifli Ahmad, who was then an officer of the Attorney-General's chambers, pertaining to MACC probe into 1MDB.
Dzulkifli (below) was later made MACC chief, replacing Abu Kassim Mohamed.
Shafee also accused Latheefa of having breached the official secrets law by revealing the recordings to the public.
It was unconventional too for MACC to reveal a purported evidence to the public before an official investigation was carried out, he added.
"Normally what they will do is lodge a police report or MACC report and conduct confidential investigations. They will not release it to the public. Because the investigation is confidential.
"In fact, Latheefa said that is official secret what Dzul was discussing. These matters are still to be investigated.
"And the worst thing is, she released all this information by playing it to the public, when she knew her agency is not going to investigate it, she passed it to the police.
"So what she has done is that she pre-empted and emptied the investigation file that the police are to investigate. The police are now going to investigate what is already out in the public. I think that is a serious breach by herself."
Asked if the recordings obtained by MACC from anonymous source would be useful to the prosecution in their cases against Najib in court, the attorney replied in the negative.
He said recordings that are produced anonymously would not be admissible in court, as what had happened in several previous cases. - Mkini
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