Several officers from the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) may be sent for training abroad to gain expertise in the field of computer forensics to tackle cyber crime especially in sedition and child pornography cases.

Information Communication and Culture Minister Rais Yatim said these officers would be trained to become experts in gathering computer evidence needed to prosecute those involved in cyber crime.

Several countries such as India, the United States and Japan had already started courses in this field, however, the cost for attending such courses was rather high, he told Bernama and RTM after attending the fourth day of the Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Guadalajara, Mexico on Thursday.

Rais said that by having the computer forensic experts, all information that had been deleted could still be retrieved from the hard disc.

In addition, there was also a need to have expertise on law and evidence although Malaysia already had the Evidence Act and Telecommunications Act to prosecute those suspected to be involved in cyber crime, he said.

Action to prosecute those committing cyber crime was not as easy as prosecuting those involved in thefts and so on because investigation into cyber crime needed various levels of investigation with many obstacles, he said.

"The Evidence Act 1950 itself has many obstacles making it difficult for the attorney-general himself to take court action against those found to have committed cyber crime, especially in terms of evidence and proof," he said.

The minister said that in ensuring that a particular case could be brought to court, he wanted the determination of the validity of the evidence to be decided not only by one particular party but several parties including officers from the ministry and the MCMC as they had the relevant expertise.

In this context, officers from the ministry as well as the enforcement division of the MCMC would cooperate with the police and the attorney-ceneral so that a number of important cases could be followed up.

At the meeting today, Rais participated in the election of the ITU secretary-general and deputy secretary-general where Hamadoun Toure retained his post as secretay-general and Zhou Houlin was also retained as the deputy secretary-general.

Rais and his wife Masnah Rais returned home to Malaysia this afternoon after arriving in Guadalajara on Monday for the conference.

- Bernama