PARLIAMENT | Ramkarpal Singh (Pakatan Harapan-Bukit Gelugor) has questioned whether the Enforcement Agency Integrity Commission (EAIC) offered to provide protection to whistleblowers while investigating the police cartel issue.
He said it is no surprise that no one stepped forward to expose anything about the police cartel if no protection was offered to any potential whistleblowers.
“Was there protection being offered in this issue to those who could expose the cartel issue? Did the EAIC provide this protection?
“If not, of course there is no one who would come forward to expose this issue and there is no use to conduct an investigation under the EAIC.
“If we want answers regarding this police cartel issue, EAIC needs to provide protection to the complainants,” Ramkarpal said during his debate on the royal address in the Dewan Rakyat today.
Ramkarpal (above), who is a lawyer by profession, pointed out that the Whistleblower Protection Act 2010 has many limitations, including that a person seeking protection under this Act must lodge their complaint with specific agencies.
He said such a condition will only discourage people from lodging complaints especially if their complaint is against the authorities.
“How is it possible for a person to be expected to go and report his grievance to an authority when it is very likely that that authority will be investigating him?” he said.
‘No evidence’ of cartel
The EAIC had previously said they found no evidence of a “cartel” among police ranks as alleged by former inspector-general of police (IGP) Abdul Hamid Bador.
EAIC chairperson Sidek Hassan had said the cartel’s existence could not be confirmed from the witness testimonies and documents that the EAIC had obtained.
Hamid, however, had later called the EAIC’s findings “shallow and incorrect”.
Ramkarpal had also previously asked if the EAIC had interviewed Hamid before concluding there is no evidence of the cartel’s existence.
At his final press conference in March last year, then IGP Hamid alleged the existence of a “cartel” in the police force, whose ambition is to dominate the force for their own personal interests.
He said this group, which included high-ranking officers with connections to crime syndicates, had also purportedly conspired to get rid of him as the IGP.
Hamid also alleged the cartel members include younger police personnel who colluded in attempts to remove him as part of a bigger plan to control the force for their personal benefits. - Mkini
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.