Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng is entitled to a copy of the police report lodged against him over his alleged seditious statement, said his counsel Karpal Singh.

Speaking to the press at his office today, the DAP stalwart also said that the police have no right to issue an arrest warrant against the chief minister for his refusal to give a statement without the copy of the police report.

NONE Rebutting a report quoting Selangor police chief Khalid Abu Bakar that Lim had refused to cooperate with the police in giving his statement and could face arrest, Karpal said Lim "was only requesting what he is entitled to in law.

Karpal also warned the police that if they insisted in issuing a warrant of arrest against Lim, legal action would be taken against them for either false arrest or false imprisonment.

"We have every right to sue the police for that. Let me warn them that before they can extract any warrant of arrest from the court, they must be prepared for the consequences," he said.

He however quickly added that he was "not intimidating the police but just stating the law".

Lim, also DAP secretary-general, is being investigated for allegedly uttering seditious remarks during the Pakatan Rakyat convention in Shah Alam last month.

In his speech, he was alleged to have said that political aide Teoh Beng Hock's death was murder.

Following this, a police report was lodged by the police themselves over the incident but the identity of the report-maker was never made public.

Must know the details of accusation

Quoting Section 112 (3) of the Criminal Procedure Code, Karpal said, "a person making a statement under this section shall be legally bound to state the truth, whether or not such statement is made wholly or partly in answer to questions".

In order to state the truth in the statement, said Karpal, one must know the exact detail of the accusation.

"In this case, the chief minister had allegedly committed sedition at the Pakatan Rakyat convention (last month). All right then, let us know what was exactly said in (the police report)?

"Where, when and how does that amount to sedition? We can't keep somebody in the dark and expect (the person) to answer the question. When the law says you must state the truth, you must know what the accusation is," he said.

Clarifying further, Karpal, who is also the Bukit Gelugor MP, said that it was more important that the person accused has a right to know the identity of his accuser which would be reflected in his police report.

Requested the police report ‘formally'

Karpal also expressed his disappointment that the police had turned down their requests for a copy of the police report.

The only reason the police gave was that they were "not obliged to release the copy of the police report", which Karpal said "is not true under the law".

According to him, Lim had formally requested the copy of the police report twice.

Karpal brushed aside speculation that the police report could open up the possibility for witnesses or victims to be intimidated.

"No, the question does not arise. Of course if the witness is intimidated, there is a law against (witness intimidation). The main thing is you must know what your accuser said about you," he said.