The police, Mat Zain said, should have been prompted into action based on his statutory declaration on the matter alone.
Mat Zain was responding to the Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi (right) who was quoted in news reports as saying yesterday that the police could do nothing until a police report was lodged on Mat Zain's charges.
"Section 107 and 107A of the Criminal Procedure Code relate to information given to the police and their powers to investigate are very clear," Mat Zain said in a brief message to Malaysiakini.
In a statement a few days ago, Mat Zain said he had handed a copy of the statutory declaration containing allegations of misconduct by Gani to Prime Minister Najib Razak.
Legal tussle
Pulau Batu Puteh - or Pedra Branca as Putrajaya now prefers to call it - is an island that has been claimed by both Malaysia and Singapore in a legal tussle that began in 1980.
pulau batu putih pulau batu puteh 230508Eventually, in 2008, Malaysia and Singapore agreed to resolve the matter before the International Court of Justice in The Netherlands.
Malaysia lost the case.
In his statutory declaration, Mat Zain says the Malaysian delegation to the ICJ, which was led by Gani, had submitted as evidence a controversial photograph.
The photograph, which was retrieved from an anonymous blog, was seen as a deciding factor in the case.
Even though there have also been allegations of bribes to officials involved, Mat Zain said he was reluctant to make a report to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).
Instead, Mat Zain reiterated to Malaysiakini that his purpose of penning the declaration under oath was to convince Putrajaya to establish a royal commission of inquiry (RCI) over the loss of Pulau Batu Puteh to Singapore.
"I urge the prime minister to set up an RCI for a wider and more comprehensive investigation," he said.
By Radzi Razak
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