Saturday, July 28, 2007

IGP & FORMER ACA CHIEF CLEARED.


AG Orders Corruption Investigation Against IGP Closed
PUTRAJAYA, July 27 (Bernama) -- Attorney- General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail has ordered that the Anti-Corruption Agency's (ACA) investigations against Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan on allegations that he received RM2 million to release three detainees under the Emergency Ordinance, be closed.
This is because the ACA investigations through witnesses and relevant documents revealed no evidence to implicate Musa, he said.
"Analysis of Tan Sri Musa Hassan's bank account statements also did not show any suspicious entry," he said in a statement to Bernama here today.
The ACA opened an investigation paper on June 18 and conducted a thorough investigation, including recording statements from the parties said to have paid RM2 million to Musa, and all the six witnesses said to have linked the three detainees to an illegal betting syndicate.
It also checked Musa's bank accounts and properties.
The investigation was opened after Home Ministry Principal Assistant Secretary Nazree Mohamad wrote a complaint letter and an e-mail containing the allegations to the ACA on April 27.
Gani said the ACA investigation revealed the following facts:
* All the three subjects were detained on March 30 2007 for allegedly being members of an illegal betting syndicate based on the evidence of six witnesses whose statements were recorded at the Kluang police headquarters (IPD).
* After all the three subjects were arrested by the Kluang IPD, the Inspector-General of Police received information that there was victimisation in the arrest.
* Musa then instructed the then Deputy Director of Intelligence/Operations of the Bukit Aman Criminal Investigation Department, DCP Datuk Khalid Abu Bakar, to probe the arrest of the three in view of the information on victimisation. Musa never issued any instruction to release the three subjects but informed Khalid that if there really had been victimisation in the arrest of the three subjects, they should be released.
* The investigation headed by Khalid found that all the six witnesses who were said to have linked the three subjects to an illegal betting syndicate had denied giving any statement to the Kluang IPD linking the three subjects to an illegal betting syndicate. Pursuant to this, Khalid instructed that the three subjects be released and suggested that disciplinary action be taken against the police officers involved.
* All the three subjects were released on April 6 2007 after seven days' detention.
Gani said further investigation by the ACA from recordings of the statements of the six witnesses found that they never made any statement to the Kluang police about the involvement of the three subjects in an illegal betting syndicate.
All the six also said that their signatures on the statements which were said to have been taken by the Kluang police were not theirs, he said.
He said samples of the signatures of the six witnesses taken by the ACA were found to be different from those on the police statement forms and it was clear that the signatures were not theirs.
The ACA investigation of the registration book of the lockup at the Kluang IPD where the six witnesses were detained and their statements taken by the Kluang police found that on the day and time stated on the statements, five of them were in the lockup and the sixth was being taken to court.
"Therefore, it was not possible for the six witnesses to have given their statements to the Kluang IPD police on the date and time stated in their written statements," he said.
Following the disclosure from the ACA investigation, Gani instructed the ACA to probe the police personnel suspected of falsifying the statements of the witnesses.
"I have also instructed the Kluang district police headquarters to submit all the files investigated under the Emergency Ordinance 1969 to the ACA," Gani said.
Earlier, Musa had denied the allegations and left it to the ACA to investigate.
Musa, who is due to retire on Sept 12 this year, has had his service extended by way of contract by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi who is also Internal Security Minister.
Abdullah had said that the extension was to enable the Inspector-General of Police to carry on with his efforts to fight crime and corruption.

Former ACA Chief Free Of Criminal Misconduct, Abuse Of Power, Says AG

PUTRAJAYA, July 27 (Bernama) -- Former Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) director-general Datuk Seri Zulkifli Mat Noor did not engage in any criminal misconduct or abuse of power, Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail said today.
"The investigation process did not show any criminal element in the form of practices, conduct or omission by Datuk Seri Zulkifli Mat Noor or any abuse of power.
"Nevertheless, an incident where a road accident involving a department vehicle that went unreported was seen as a breach of departmental procedure but Datuk Seri Zulkifli Mat Noor had acted so solely to safeguard the mode of operation/intelligence undertaken by the Anti-Corruption Agency," he said in a statement to Bernama here.
Zulkifli was investigated by the ACA after former Sabah ACA director Mohamad Ramli Abdul Manan lodged a report early this year alleging misconduct by Zulkifli by way of corrupt practices and sexual misconduct as well as irregularities and abuse of power.
Gani said preliminary police investigation identified 28 issues.
Gani said the accusations identified were that Zulkifli used a government official vehicle to go to the Mobil service station in Pagoh, Muar in Johor; a wealthy nephew/niece attached to the MISC stayed in Zulkifli's house and took care of three luxury cars -- a Mercedes Benz, a Toyota Camry and a Volvo; a former Segamat district police chief and Zulkifli (when he was the Johor police chief) sought a bribe from a contractor, one Noor Hazin Mohd Zin, when the latter won a tender to build the housing complex of the Segamat district police headquarters.
Among the accusations were that Zulkifli has three shophouses in Shah Alam; owns a condominium in Sri Vista, Kampung Kerinchi, Kuala Lumpur, possesses land bequeathed by the Sultan of Pahang, has Magnum Corporation shares in the name of Shafiah Mohamad (Zulkifli's wife), owns a penthouse in Gold Coast, Australia, occupied by Zulkifli's child, and did not take action on information pertaining to alleged corruption by ministers and politicians.
There were also accusations that Zulkifli did not act on a complaint that Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor (then Federal Territories Minister) had allegedly accepted a RM5 million bribe from a person identified only as Tee Yam to allow construction of a building for the purpose of gambling.
The statement said Zulkifli was also investigated for not having acted against Datuk Marina Mahathir who was alleged to have deposited US$15 million in the Bank of Singapore in the name of Tengku Iman, and for the alleged issuing of a contract to Marina for the construction of the Seremban-Port Dickson Highway and for allegedly giving part of the shares to Zulkifli.
"In 2004, Mohamad Ramli Abdul Manan had sent a letter to ACA Deputy Director-General Datuk Mohamad Zawawi suggesting an investigation of the alleged corruption and abuse of power by Zulkifli," Gani said in the statement.
Gani also said that one of the accusations was that Zulkifli was involved in a road accident in December 2005 when driving a Mercedes Benz car with registration number CBE 5216 belonging to the department but the repair process of the vehicle did not adhere to departmental procedure.
Other accusations were that no police report was made on a missing Honda Civic car bearing registration number WJR 2830 belonging to the department; that an ACA intelligence director had helped Zulkifli buy a Mercedes Benz car from the Customs; that Zulkifli owned land in Alai, Melaka, which was to have been the site of the ACA headquarters; that he misused the so-called SS Fund to purchase a flight ticket for his wife; that he was involved in sexual misconduct; that Zulkifli allegedly had an intimate relationship with a Sikh police officer; that he owned shophouses in Bahau, Negeri Sembilan; that he owned the Mobil service station in Pagoh, Muar, Johor; and that he owned the Shell service station in Bandar Tasik Selatan, Kuala Lumpur.
Zulkifli was also accused of owning six houses in Pagoh; of owning land and chalets in Desaru, Kota Tinggi; of owning 12 acres of oil palm smallholding in Port Dickson and of using the department's Mercedes Benz car bearing registration number CBE 5216 as his personal vehicle.
"On April 17 2007, Mohamad Ramli sent a letter to the Inspector-General of Police stating that Zulkifli had closed several corruption cases involving Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman relating to the Wisma Bandaraya scandal and alleging that Zulkifli had received RM700,000 as an inducement as stated in a police report made by Datuk Dr Jeffrey Kitingan on March 19 2007," said Gani.
The attorney-general said 43 witnesses as well as the complainant, Mohamad Ramli, were interviewed in the course of the investigation.
"The investigation showed that Mohamad Ramli's allegations against Zulkifli were only assumptions. Mohamad Ramli was unable to support his accusations with documentary evidence.
"Mohamad Ramli did not have valid information and had never handled or managed the matters as per his allegations. All the allegations were garnered from third parties which were not revealed to the investigating team. The claims by Mohamad Ramli were baseless and doubtful," said Gani.
He said ACA witnesses stated that there had been no abuse of power by Zulkifli as alleged by Mohamad Ramli.
Their statements were made based on records relating to administration, operation and finance kept at the ACA.
"This showed that Mohamad Ramli had made assumptions without solid facts or information," Gani said.
He said two investigations into sexual misconduct undertaken in 1997 were probed and referred to the deputy public prosecutor and the cases were declared "NFA" (no further action) by the DPP for lack of sufficient evidence to bring charges against Zulkifli.
On an allegation that a vehicle auctioned by the Customs was bought at lower than the market price, he said investigations found that the purchase had adhered to regulations as per the Treasury's instructions, he said.
"Investigations were conducted into Zulkifli's sources of finance, and the loans given to his children for business were through savings from emoluments (allowances, salary and ASB investments). Investigations also showed that Zulkifli saved almost 40 per cent of his income and they showed that there was reason to believe he had the capability to accumulate the savings which were loaned to his children.
"Zulkifli also acknowledged that he gave the loans to his children in fulfilling his responsibility as a father wanting to see his children lead a successful life," Gani said.
The attorney-general also said that it was found that there was no violation of laws as alleged by Jeffrey Kitingan in his police report.
"There were 25 allegations in that report, three of which were related to general crime investigated by the Sabah police. The other allegations were on corrupt practices which were investigated by the Sabah ACA. The police investigation was referred to the Sabah chief police officer and the case was classified as `NFA' (no further action).
"An inspection showed that there was no delay in the investigations conducted by the ACA after the complaints were received. Also, Zulkifli did not issue any directive to prolong the investigations.
"The investigations also did not show any transaction of an alleged RM700,000 bribe to Zulkifli by the Sabah chief minister," Gani said.

IGP Happy His Name Cleared By ACA

KUALA LUMPUR, July 27 (Bernama) -- Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan is a happy man today after the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) closed its investigation against him on an allegation that he received RM2 million to release three detainees under the Emergency Ordinance.
"I thank the ACA for expediting the investigation and I believe there would be no more speculation on the matter. Everything's back to normal now," he told Bernama tonight.
Musa was commenting on the statement by Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail that he had instructed the ACA to close its investigation into the allegation since it was baseless.
Musa said he had given the fullest cooperation during the ACA investigation.
"The ACA did their job, and I cooperated to clear my name," he added.
The ACA opened an investigation paper on June 18 and recorded statements from parties alleged to have paid RM2 million to Musa, and all the six witnesses said to have linked the three detainees to an illegal betting syndicate.

IGP Advises Senior Police Officer To Clear His Name

KUALA LUMPUR, July 27 (Bernama) -- Inspector- General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan today advised a senior federal police officer under probe by the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) to give the fullest cooperation and clear his name.
He said this would expedite the ACA investigation and avert unnecessary speculation.
"The (ACA) investigation is a normal procedure. Let them complete their probe as it might take time.
"I believe in my men. If they are on the right track, there is nothing to worry," he told Bernama.
Musa was commenting on a media report today which highlighted an ACA probe into a federal police officer for alleged abuse of power and failure to declare his assets, which allegedly ran into millions of ringgit.
The officer is also alleged to have ordered the arrest of several villagers in Lahad Datu, Sabah, after they opposed a development project by a company of which he was a director.
In a related development, the ACA is to interview the villagers and scrutinise documents belonging to the company to ascertain the status of the senior police officer in the company.
A senior ACA official told Bernama the agency was currently evaluating the multi-million ringgit assets supposedly owned by the police officer.
"It is impossible for a senior police officer (like him) to have accumulated so much (in assets). Thus, we need a clarification on how he obtained them. We need to look into many aspects during our investigation as this is part of our procedure. We may call him for questioning, from time to time. No one is above the law," he said.
The police officer, who heads a department at the federal police headquarters in Bukit Aman, however could not be contacted by Bernama.

tunku : so now it's clear that the IGP is not guilty. what say raja petra?will he be writing more slanders/allegation on IGP? hope that the IGP would really fight crime that is worsen day by day now as he can fully concentrate on it now without any obstacles.

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