‘Frightened Musa wants to save his skin’
Prominent lawyer Rosli Dahlan, who has dealt with Musa Hassan first hand, has an answer as to why the ex-IGP is reappearing in the media spotlight, flanked by PKR members.
Anisah Shukry, FMT
Musa Hassan’s sudden criticism of the government and the police is an attempt to reinvent his image and cosy up to Pakatan Rakyat out of fear that should the Barisan Nasional government fall, his head will be the first to roll, according to lawyer Rosli Dahlan.
The prominent lawyer, who previously represented Musa’s rival, ex CCID chief Ramli Yusuff, is currently pursuing a legal suit against Utusan Malaysia and 16 others in a case related to the former inspector-general of police’s purported links with underworld figures.
As such, Rosli has first hand experience with Musa and has nothing but scorn for the ex top-cop as well as his recent revelations of alleged ministerial interference and criminal elements in the police.
“Musa is a manipulator, opportunist and a liar. He is a principal lecturer at UiTM in media warfare, so we should not be surprised that he is using the media to reinvent his image,” he told FMT.
“Clearly, Musa knows he will be in trouble if Pakatan forms the next government,” added Rosli.
Former Kuala Lumpur CID chief Mat Zain previously accused Musa of fabricating evidence in Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim’s 1998 black eye Incident.
Rosli said Musa was also the investigating officer in Anwar’s first sodomy charge and the incumbent IGP when the second sodomy charge was “orchestrated”.
“So it is no surprise that he now becomes a turncoat, against the government that gave him his mercurial rise to be IGP and enjoyed two extensions by contract in order to save his own skin,” he added.
Musa appeared at a press conference late last month with several NGO leaders linked to the opposition, fuelling speculation that he would be joining Pakatan Rakyat soon.
The press briefing was organised by a new NGO called the Malaysian Crime Watch Task, or MyWatch, and was the setting for which Musa dropped the bombshell that ministers allegedly meddled in police investigations.
Anwar later said that PKR was open to Musa joining them if he wished to do so, although Musa had firmly stated that he would remain neutral.
‘Leopard does not change its spots’
Commenting on this, Rosli said: “PKR must not forget the history of this man; a leopard does not change its spots.”
“To me, for PKR to be a credible opposition, it shouldn’t use characters who are known to have manipulated the system and fabricated evidence,” he added.
Rosli recounted that the ex-IGP’s own aide, ASP Noor Azizul Rahim Taharim, had called Musa a “pengkhianat” (traitor) in a 2009 statutory declaration (SD).
The document accused Musa of a slew of wrongdoings during his tenure and exposed how Musa had allegedly manipulated the police succession hierarchy with his associate, an underworld figure known as BK Tan, as well as silencing critics with transfers and trumped up charges.
“Never before in the history of this country has an active serving IGP faced such an accusation from his own ADC (aide de camp),” said Rosli.
“As for being a liar, it is not what I say, but the various people who have dealt with Musa including the damning judgment by Sessions Judge Supang Lian of the Kota Kinabalu court,” he added.
Rosli was referring to the 2007 case levelled by Musa against Ramli. Musa had accused Ramli of abusing his power in using a police Cessna plane for his personal benefit. However, the judge found that Ramli was in full uniform and was escorted by four other uniformed police personnel while conducting a border surveillance patrol.
“If the prosecution was serious about finding out the truth, they should have called the two police pilots as the first and second witnesses. Instead, the pilots were called close to the end of the trial. DPP Kevin Morais also amended the charge several times. That is how insidious these people are,” added Rosli.
Ramli was eventually acquitted without his defence being called.
When Musa became the final witness for the prosecution in order to rebut the other police witnesses who had given evidence supporting Ramli, the judge delivered the following stinging judgment against Musa:
“[Musa’s] evidence is unreliable and is to be disregarded and whatever he says in court lends to his discredit. I am in total agreement with the case for the defence that this lack of support of the evidence of [Musa] on this point lends to his discredit… I found however that the evidence of [Musa] on this to be unreliable and to be disregarded.”
According to Rosli that was a polite way of calling an active serving IGP a liar.
