Veteran DAP leader Lim Kit Siang has called the police’s decision to classify the report lodged by the MACC against whistleblower Lalitha Kunaratnam under no further action (NFA) a “slap in the face” for MACC chief commissioner Azam Baki and the anti-graft agency.
Following this, Lim urged Azam to take a leave of absence until the shares holding controversy surrounding him, which was raised by Lalitha, is resolved.
"The police action has fortified the argument that Azam should go on leave until he can clear his name of the conflict-of-interest allegations made against him at the end of October last year," said the Iskandar Puteri MP in a statement today.
He claimed that Azam was setting a bad example by the "vindictive way" he reacted to Lalitha for her two-part article – “Business Ties Among MACC Leadership: How Deep Does it Go?”
Lim cited veteran journalist R Nadeswaran's Malaysiakini commentary in which the latter pointed out that asking questions about publicly available information constituted no offence.
"Why is Azam suing Lalitha for defamation instead of setting a public example of protecting a whistleblower’s rights?" Lim asked.
The DAP lawmaker said he had submitted a question so that the matter could be debated in Parliament when it reconvenes on Feb 28.
NFA confirmed
Yesterday, Bukit Aman Criminal Investigation Department director Abdul Jalil Hassan confirmed the NFA status on the Feb 9 police report lodged against Lalitha at the Sentul district police station by a MACC officer.
“For your information, the report that was lodged at Sentul (police station) by the complainant has been marked as NFA because it is not related to the case investigated by Bukit Aman’s Classified Criminal Investigation Unit,” Jalil told Malaysiakini.
Lalitha, who is also being sued by Azam for the write-ups about his share ownership in public-listed companies, had in her statement of defence included her job description as a researcher at the Center to Combat Corruption and Cronyism (C4 Center).
The officer who lodged the report had based the allegation on a statement made by C4 Center last month, where the NGO said Lalitha had "ceased being an employee with C4 Center since December 2020".
Lalitha's lawyer Manjeet Singh Dillon had said the MACC may be cited for contempt of court over the police report as its subject matter is part of the ongoing civil court action between his client and Azam.
Azam is suing Lalitha over the activist's two articles, ‘Business Ties Among MACC Leadership: How Deep Does It Go? (Part 1)’ and ‘Business Ties Among MACC Leadership: How Deep Does It Go? (Part Two)’.
The articles were published by the Asia-based Independent News Service late last year.
Lalitha stated she was ready to fight Azam's lawsuit and prove in court the contents of her online articles regarding the issue. - Mkini
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