Ex-cop demands S-G clears his name in Anwar’s black-eye case
Datuk Mat Zain Ibrahim, the police officer who investigated Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s black-eye assault in 1998, is demanding the government clear him of fabricating evidence in the case.
The former KL CID chief, who has accused the country’s top lawyer and police chief of making up evidence during the investigations, sent a letter of demand through his solicitors today to Solicitor-General Datuk Idrus Harun.
His letter is likely to continue putting pressure on Attorney-General Tan Sri Gani Patail and Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan ahead of Anwar’s sodomy trial next month.
Anwar had accused the two men of fabricating evidence during the black-eye investigation and is planning to use the allegations to defend himself in his sodomy trial.
Mat Zain points out in his letter of demand that a press statement made by Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) chief commissioner Datuk Seri Ahmad Said Hamdan on March 1 and subsequent remarks by Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz in Parliament on March 11 this year had cleared Gani and Musa of wrongdoing.
The former police officer asserts the implication of Nazri’s remarks was that the government indirectly admitted Anwar’s claims were genuine with criminal liability shifting to him and forensic consultant Dr Abdul Rahman Yusof.
Mat Zain said Nazri’s remarks meant the retired police officer could be prosecuted for fabricating evidence under Section 192 of the Criminal Procedure Code.
Through the letter sent today, Mat Zain is demanding the solicitor-general declare that the three medical reports prepared by Dr Rahman in the black-eye case were obtained illegally and fraudulently, and were used in proceedings of a royal commission set up to investigate the beating.
He also wants the solicitor-general to make a declaration that the former investigator had taken all necessary steps to prevent Gani from using the medical reports.
The letter of demand also seeks to have the solicitor-general clear Mat Zain of any wrongdoing, failing which further legal action would be taken.
Last week Mat Zain claimed a high-level plot using a bankruptcy notice to destroy his credibility ahead of several cases including the opposition leader’s sodomy case in July.
State news agency Bernama had reported that Mat Zain was declared a bankrupt on April 21 for failing to settle a RM250,000 loan and was served with the notice on May 26.
Mat Zain, who retired in 2001, said last week he believed hidden hands were trying to destroy his credibility and to prevent him from giving evidence against Gani and Musa for fabricating evidence.
Mat Zain filed a RM30 million defamation suit against Anwar last year after the Pakatan Rakyat leader claimed that Gani, who was a senior deputy public prosecutor then, and Musa, who was an investigating officer, had fabricated evidence against him in the black-eye assault.
Tan Sri Rahim Noor, the Inspector-General of Police in 1998, later admitted he had assaulted Anwar following a Royal Commission of Inquiry probe in 1999.
Besides Mat Zain, Musa has also filed a defamation suit against Anwar.
The statements of claim made by both Musa and Mat Zain have been admitted as part of an affidavit filed by Anwar for his Sodomy II trial.
Anwar had claimed trial last August to sodomising his former aide Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan, his second sodomy case in a decade.
Mat Zain told The Malaysian Insider last week however that he had decided to sue Anwar to clear his name because unlike Gani and Musa, he had not been officially cleared of the allegations of abuse of power.
In his statement of claims, the former investigator implicates Gani and Musa in what he claims was an attempt to introduce a medical report which he found suspicious.
He claimed the medical report prepared by Dr Rahman from Hospital Kuala Lumpur had suggested Anwar’s injuries were self-inflicted.
Instead, Mat Zain asserts in his statement of claim that he had taken all possible steps to prevent the medical report prepared by Dr Rahman from being included in his investigation papers.
