‘Spiteful’ MACC drags Rosli Dahlan case on
(Malaysiakini) – The Kuala Lumpur Session Court has fixed Oct 27 to hear the submissions from the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) over the charges against lawyer Rosli Dahlan.
The case was postponed as MACC’s counsel said that they were not prepared to submit their case.
Judge Rozilah Salleh, who is presiding over the matter on behalf of Judge Abu Bakar Katar, gave another month for the prosecution to prepare.
Rosli was arrested by the then Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) and brought to court on the eve of Hari Raya in 2007 and charged with failing to comply with ACA’s notice requesting full disclosure of his assets.
According to the charge, Rosli did not disclose his assets in the two-month period stipulated by ACA’s notice dated July 17, 2007. The deadline was later extended to Aug 16 that year.
The offence is punishable under Section 32 (2) of the Anti-Corruption Act 1997.
The prominent lawyer was being probed in relation to ACA’s investigation into one of his clients, former Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) director Ramli Yusoff.
The MACC has brought the prosecution’s case against Rosi to a close with the testimony of its ninth witness thus far.
Mystery over case
It remains a mystery to why the MACC has not withdrawn the case as Rosli’s client Ramli has since been acquitted of three corruption charges against him.
Ramli was charged with allegedly abusing his powers as Sabah police chief for personal financial gain when on June 15, 2007, he used a Royal Malaysian Police Cessna Caravan aircraft to take him and Brig-Jen (Rtd) Mohamad Yasin Yahya on an aerial surveillance of two lots in Ulu Tungku, Lahad Datu.
Besides his acquittal in Sabah, the former senior police officer was also acquitted twice in Kuala Lumpur.
Frustrated over the matter being prolonged, Rosli told Malaysiakini that MACC was being “spiteful” and deliberately dragging the case on.
“It’s their case and they should have been ready to submit. I had hoped to become a free man before this Hari Raya but when the case was fixed on Sept 10 they (MACC) asked the court to set another date and it was fixed for Sept 30.
“Today they come, but the leading prosecutors were not there and said that they weren’t even ready,” he lamented.
Rosli added that he had written to the MACC on Aug 30 to withdraw the case as his client Ramli has been acquitted, but there has been no response.
“At first they were of the view that I was arrogant because I didn’t write to them sooner to withdraw because I thought they want to fight it all out. Now that I have written in and I have good grounds to do so, they have yet to reply,” he said, clearly upset.
“This is a strategy adopted by MACC aimed at frustrating me. It’s common human decency to apologise when you have wronged someone,” he blasted.
The judge will decide on Oct 27 whether to call Rosli to the stand or to acquit him without calling for his defence.
