Police probing Jamal Yunos under OSA

 

The police are investigating Sungai Besar Umno division chief Jamal Md Yunos over several documents protected under the Official Secrets Act 1972 (OSA).

This was confirmed by Sentul district police chief Beh Eng Lai, who told reporters today that Jamal was being investigated under Section 8 of the OSA, which relates to wrongful communication of official secrets.

If found guilty, the breach carries a jail sentence of between one and seven years.

Jamal allegedly submitted protected documents to the court ahead of next month's hearing in the ongoing RM1 million defamation suit by Seputeh MP Teresa Kok against him.

The suit is over the allegation of abuse of Yayasan Warisan Anak Selangor (Yawas) funds, in which Jamal accused Kok and several Pakatan Harapan representatives of misappropriating funds from Skim Mesra Usia Emas (SMUE).

Kok lodged a police report against Jamal on May 7 at the Sri Petaling police district headquarters, alleging that he had included meeting minutes of SMUE in 2016, status reports on cash books, a district office's bank adjustment statement and a 2016 meeting feedback on the system coordination of SMUE.

In her police report, she claimed that the treasury division of the Selangor state government confirmed that the documents submitted by Jamal were protected under the OSA.

Seputeh MP Teresa Kok

Following her report, Kok was allegedly told that the case was under the purview of the Sentul district police headquarters instead and that she would have to give her statement at the Sentul headquarters today.

However, before she gave her statement, Kok received an email on May 7 from the police stating that preliminary investigations had classified the case as 'No Further Action (NFA)'.

The email, sighted by Malaysiakini, stated that there were no leads to allow for an investigation.

This sparked Kok's ire, who told reporters today that she was unsatisfied with the matter.

"The police should be getting further details from me, but before doing that, they (classified it) as NFA.

"But I protested with an official who told me to come (to the station) and give a statement," she said.

Kok stressed, however, that the documents do not implicate her and urged the police to investigate how Jamal got a hold of the classified documents.

Beh later clarified with the media that the NFA issued by the police was "temporary" and a standard procedure.

"Police have to classify the case within 24 hours in the system. We will reclassify the case after recording statements from witnesses," he said. - Mkini