Malaysian Bar president Steven Thiru said the actions by the police in questioning several senior MACC officers, raiding their homes and offices and removing documents, have the appearance of an “assault” and have seemingly caused “irreparable” harm to the anti-graft agency’s standing.
“The launch of the investigation into the MACC, and the allegation of a plot to overthrow the government, could be seen as a thinly-disguised attempt to block the truth from emerging,” Steven said in a statement.
“Moreover, the investigation into allegations of leaking of confidential information and the purported breach of Section 124B of the Penal Code are not carte blanche for the police to intrude into, and interfere with, the MACC’s investigation, and/or to remove or compromise vital evidence collated by MACC. It must be borne in mind that interfering with or obstructing an ongoing MACC investigation is in itself an offence under Section 48 of the MACC Act 2009,” he added.
Section 124B of the Penal Code penalises “activities detrimental to parliamentary democracy” with a 20-year jail term, while Section 48 of the MACC Act criminalises the obstruction of an MACC investigation.
Steven noted that MACC special operations division director Datuk Bahri Mohamad Zain has reportedly raised the spectre of “hidden hands” at work after Deputy Public Prosecutor Ahmad Sazilee Abdul Khairi, who was seconded to the MACC, was arrested.
MACC deputy chief commissioner (prevention) Datuk Mustafar Ali said Wednesday that the anti-graft agency’s investigation on 1MDB has been affected after the police raided the MACC’s special operations division office in Putrajaya and seized documents and laptops related to the MACC’s probe on the state-owned fund.
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