Yawas documents were not under OSA, claims Jamal Yunos

 

Jamal speaking to reporters outside the Sentul district police headquarters.

KUALA LUMPUR: Sungai Besar Umno division chief Jamal Yunos has brushed off Seputeh MP Teresa Kok’s claims that he had obtained documents classified under the Official Secrets Act (OSA).

Jamal claimed that the documents he had were not classified under the OSA when he filed a report to the authorities in 2017 on the alleged embezzlement of Yayasan Warisan Anak Selangor (Yawas) funds involving Kok.

He also questioned why Kok was raising this now when her civil defamation suit over his allegations was still being tried in court.

Kok, a former federal minister, filed the defamation suit against Jamal in 2017 after the Umno man allegedly defamed her by accusing her of abusing funds from Yawas.

“My lawyer has filed an application to the state government to get a confirmation on the classification of the document,” Jamal said at a press conference outside the Sentul district police headquarters.

Jamal was there to give his statement to the police after Kok filed a report against him last week for possessing the OSA documents, which he had submitted in court for the trial.

His lawyer, Hafiz Norkhan, maintained that government documents could not be classified under the OSA at a whim.

“There has yet to be any official statement regarding the gazettement of the document under the OSA. If it’s true that it has been gazetted, surely there would be feedback (from the state government),” he said.

Meanwhile, Jamal said he will file a fresh report to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) next week, claiming that MACC had halted its initial probe into his allegations involving Yawas.

Last week, Sentul district police chief confirmed that they were investigating Jamal for the possession of “leaked documents” classified under the OSA.

Kok had lodged a police report on May 7 after Jamal presented the “secret” documents to her lawyer in regard to the civil defamation case.

The “leaked documents” included the minutes of meetings on Skim Mesra Usia Emas (SMUE) 2016, a report on a cash book, a district office’s bank adjustment statement, and a feedback meeting on system coordination of SMUE. - FMT