Bersatu Youth lodges police report against MACC's 'info leaks'

Bersatu Youth has lodged a police report seeking a probe into the alleged leak of investigation-related information from the MACC.

Bersatu Youth assistant secretary Muhammad Faiz Rahmad made the report at the Dang Wangi police station this morning, accompanied by party Youth chief Wan Ahmad Fayhsal Wan Ahmad Kamal and several others.

In the report, Faiz cited two instances where the purported leaks took place - the first being a source from the MACC confirming to the media that the anti-graft agency had frozen two accounts belonging to Bersatu, with about RM40 million inside.

The second instance cited was Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reform) Azalina Othman Said's letter to the legal team of Najib Abdul Razak saying that Judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali had violated the Judges' Code of Ethics when presiding over the former prime minister's SRC International case.

Touching on this in his report, Faiz said the MACC has no jurisdiction to probe alleged violations of the Judges' Code of Ethics.

"Hence, it is clear that the MACC leaked details of their investigation to Azalina before the matter was revealed to the media and blogs to give a false notion that Nazlan made an unfair judgment in sentencing Najib in the SRC case.

"This is a conspiracy to tarnish Nazlan's reputation and to portray him as a dishonest person. This directly puts into question his judgment against Najib, and destroys the people's trust in the judiciary,” he added.

Judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali

Faiz explained that by leaking the information, the MACC made it seem like the target of their investigation is guilty before being tried in court.

Violation of MACC Act

As such, the agency and Azalina have violated Section 65 of the MACC Act 2009, which provides protection for whistleblowers, Faiz said.

"Also violated are Section 124H of the Penal Code (dissemination of false information), Section 124I of the Penal Code (dissemination of false report), as well as Sections 120A and 120B of the Penal Code (criminal conspiracy and party to criminal conspiracy respectively).

"There are also elements of defamation, criminal defamation, criminal intimidation, as well as an intentional insult with intent to provoke a breach of peace," he said, before adding public mischief and a breach of the Official Secrets Act into the mix.

He asked for MACC chief commissioner Azam Baki, MACC senior director of investigation Hishamuddin Hashim, MACC director (Anti-Money Laundering and Asset Forfeiture) Mohamad Zamri Zainul Abidin, and other officers involved in the probes, to be held responsible for the alleged leaks.

"I urge the police to investigate whether these (leaks) are not deliberate acts by the MACC, which go against the law." - Mkini