‘IGP and AG lied about Mahathir probe’
Former CID chief Mat Zain says Musa Hassan and Gani Patail destroyed criminal justice system
Musa Hassan and Gani Patail were accused today as being the cause of the destruction of the criminal justice system by having allowed falsified evidence against Anwar Ibrahim in 1998 and later lying about an investigation of Mahathir Mohamad for abuse of power.
In an open letter published at Malaysia Today, former Kuala Lumpur CID chief Mat Zain Ismail disclosed that he had written in May this year to Ismail Omar, then deputy IGP, and to Hishammuddin Tun Hussein, the home minister, for a review of the investigation into false evidence produced against Anwar in the “black eye” case of 1998.
(Mat Zain headed the investigation into the case and recommended that the Inspector-General then, Rahim Noor, be tried for criminal assault on Anwar Ibrahim in the lockup at police headquarters. Rahim was found guilty and sentenced to two months’ jail.)
He said Musa and Gani had claimed in press reports that investigation papers on the Mahathir case had been sent to the Attorney-General in February 2000 and the AG (the late Mohtar Abdullah) had decided that there was no case.
Mat Zain said the statements were absurd. The investigation papers in the Mahathir abuse of power case were only opened in June 2000 and sent to the AG’s Chambers in November that year.
In his letter dated 8 October, Mat Zain accuses Musa, recently-retired as Inspector-General of Police, and Gani, the Attorney-General, of lying about the Mahathir investigation.
Mahathir, then prime minister, had been accused of abuse of power by ordering a halt to corruption investigations against Ali Abul Hassan bin Sulaiman, head of the Economic Planning Unit, during which RM1000,000 in cash was found in his office.
Mat Zain made these revelations in a letter to Datin Kalsom Taib, wife and biographer of Shafee Yahya, former head of the Anti-Corruption Agency, in response to questions asked in her book of her husband’s life and career.
She had asked: “What happened to the probe on Dr Mahathir?”
Mat Zain quoted from the book, which referred to press statements by Musa and Gani about the investigation:
The IGP confirmed that an investigation on Dr.Mahathir was carried out. (NST 9 April 2008)
“Our recods show we had submitted the investigation papers to the AG Chambers on 15 February 2000. The decision made by the AG at that time (the late Tan Sri Mohtar Abdullah) was that there was no case.”
In The Star of the same date (9 April 2008), it was reported that Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail confirmed,
“The Chambers received the investigation papers from the police sometime in February 2000 and after studying it carefully, found no evidence to suggest that Dr. Mahathir had interfered in the investigations”
Mat Zain said the statements by the two men did not make any sense and were false.
It is impossible for the investigation papers to be sent to the Attorney General’s Chambers on 15 February 2000.
