The scenarios and characters depicted in this article are real. However, we assume the characters are innocent unless proven otherwise. The issue and the events that followed require a full and lengthy explanation. It should provide reasons for such activities which have breached Australian legislation.

Let it be emphasised that no one is being accused of any wrongdoing. Neither is there any insinuation of anything sinister or ominous, nor is there the casting of aspersions on the truthfulness of answers provided to date.

Many issues affecting the nation in the welfare of its people are often discussed over lunch, over a few drinks or at gatherings and are subsequently forgotten. Many yearn for answers and never get them. Having been a career journalist, we have been trained to ask – when required – even the toughest questions have to be asked and plausible answers are expected.

Instincts sometimes compel journalists to look beyond the ordinary because some situations are remote and the details hard to believe. Even if some fibs are said along the way, the questions can always be repeated.

Take the case of Bukit Aman Criminal Investigation Department (CID) director Wan Ahmad Najmuddin Mohd, whose Australian bank account was deposited to the tune of almost RM1 million. The irony is that he is not laying claim to the money and has declared that the Australian government can have it. Without being judgmental, the man himself has not spoken directly. Others are speaking for him.

Inspector-general of police (IGP) Mohamad Fuzi Harun says that an internal investigation exonerated Wan Ahmad. So did the deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi who claim that there are no grounds for the Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission (MACC) to investigate the case.

The fact remains that various sums of money were deposited into his account – below the AUS$10,000 threshold each time. The Australian reported that Wan Ahmad wrote off the money and did not attempt to get it back from the authorities, citing high legal cost. Wan Ahmad claimed that he sold his house for RM700,000 and the proceeds were sent to Australia to fund the education of his two children...