Dr M was investigated for alleged involvement in ACA case

PUTRAJAYA: Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad was investigated for alleged interference in an Anti-Corruption Agency case but was cleared of any wrongdoing.
Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail said police investigated the former prime minister for allegedly interfering with an ACA case on a senior government official.
“The Chambers received the investigation papers from the police sometime in Feb 2000 and after studying it carefully, found no evidence to suggest that Dr Mahathir had interfered in investigations,” he said yesterday.
Earlier yesterday, ACA director of investigations Datuk Shukri Abdull(photo above) told the press that it was the police and not the agency that had carried out investigations into the alleged interference, following a letter by Dr Mahathir, which was published by an English newspaper.
In his letter, Dr Mahathir claimed that he had summoned former ACA director-general Datuk Shafee Yahya after receiving a complaint from the Economic Planning Unit’s director that the agency had been very “offensive towards him” during a raid.
Dr Mahathir also said he did so because he knew that Government officers were sometimes overzealous and would overstep or abuse their authority.
Abdul Gani said that it was not Shafee who lodged a police report over the alleged interference but an Assistant Superintendent of Police.
It is learnt that in the trial notes from Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s sodomy case, it was mentioned that Dr Mahathir had kept quiet when Shafee informed him as a matter of courtesy about the investigation on the EPU and impending raid.
The same trial notes were the basis for the former UN Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges Datuk Param Cumaraswamy’s call for a probe on Dr Mahathir into the alleged interference with ACA investigations.
Param had cited the testimony by Shafee during Anwar’s trial that he had been ordered by Dr Mahathir to stop an investigation into the affairs of the then director-general of the EPU.
During yesterday’s press conference, Shukri said the agency contacted Shafee over the contents of Dr Mahathir’s letter.
“He told us that he had made a statement to the police on this in 2000. The ACA will not interfere in the investigation by the police.
“We contacted the police on this matter and any questions on this case now will have to be referred to them,” he said.
On the ACA investigation into the senior government official, Shukri said the agency had in 2001 completed its probe into the senior official and the file was referred to the A-G’s Chambers.
“The A-G at that time found the statement from the witnesses to be inconsistent and without supporting evidence. The case was then ordered to be closed,” he said.
Asked if the ACA would now investigate the case, Shukri said the agency could not conduct “double investigation”.
Shukri said since he became an ACA state director in 1996 and director of investigations in 2006, the agency had never received any report of Dr Mahathir being linked to any corruption or abuse cases.
“There was no probe on Dr Mahathir. There is also no interference from Dr Mahathir or from Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. I am telling you the truth,” he said.
Asked if the agency received any report from DAP chairman Karpal Singh over Dr Mahathir’s alleged “destruction” of the judiciary, Shukri shook his head.

Shafee didn’t report to ACA

Mohd Shukri, who was representing ACA chief Ahmad Said Hamdan at the press conference, said he had personally revisited the ACA file on Ali’s case soon after news broke that Param had called for an action to be taken Mahathir.
Despite being pressed repeatedly, Mohd Shukri could not divulge matters pertaining to police investigations on the matter other than the fact that Shafee had been was called in for police questioning in 2000.
“You should ask the IGP (Inspector-General of Police),” he said.
To a question, Mohd Shukri said that since the agency’s establishment, no ACA officer had ever lodged a complaint regarding interference in their line of duty.
In Shafee’s case, Mohd Shukri said that the former did not lodge a complaint with the agency.
Mohd Shukri said that it impossible for an ACA investigation to be “stopped halfway” as alleged by Shafee in his sworn testimony.
“We have no right to stop half way. Once an investigation is initiated it must be completed,” he added.
IGP Musa Hassan when contacted at 5pm today was unable to provide a response because he was in a meeting.

tunku : why all these while so many allegations but no report was made even by karpal singh.dey karpal, go and make a report against dr. mahathir asap.anybody who has the proof come out and report against dr mahathir now or just shut their mouth up.