Inspector-general of police Khalid Abu Bakar’s justification for Umno member Khairuddin Abu Hassan’s arrest is senseless and not grounded in law, PAS’ Pokok Sena MP Mahfuz Omar said today.
Khairuddin, who has been lodging reports with international enforcement agencies in connection with 1MDB, was arrested on Friday and slapped with a six-day remand .
Khalid said Khairuddin was arrested because he had “challenged Malaysia’s legal system, tainted the credibility of Malaysian enforcement agencies and inviting foreign intervention into Malaysian democracy”.
Mahfuz said in a statement: “Such fuzzy excuses are not based on legal principles, and sound like political rhetoric by Umno politicians.
“Once again, the IGP fails to specifically show which provision of the law Khairuddin (photo) had broken when he lodged reports overseas.”
Mahfuz said claims of foreign intervention are “laughable”, for even the Royal Malaysian Police has sought the assistance of International Police (Interpol) in cases, and allowed foreign investigators to conduct investigations against Malaysians here.
“Didn’t Malaysia allow the US Federal Bureau of Investigation to meet and investigate Internal Security Act detainee Yazid Sufaat? Isn’t this also allowing foreign intervention?” he asked.
Yazid, who was held under ISA for eight years, was investigated by the FBI for alleged links with the Al Qaeda. He is now facing trial under the Security Offences and Special Measures Act (Sosma).
Mahfuz said if Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak is truly innocent, then there is not need to silence critics or try to stop investigations into 1MDB and his links to it.
He said if Khairuddin had truly used fabricated documents to lodge the reports overseas, he should be arrested for fraud and not under Section 124C of the Penal Code, which deals with conspiracy to topple the government.
“Unless the IGP (photo) knows of any offence by Najib, and is now trying to raise the red herring of foreign intervention,” he said.
Mahfuz also urged Khalid to focus more on claims by former Special Branch deputy director Abdul Hamid Bador that there were attempts to meddle with the local investigations into 1MDB.
Khairuddin will be released tomorrow since there has been no application to extend the remand, his lawyer Matthias Chang told Malaysiakini.
Prior to his arrest, Khairuddin and Chang were slapped with a travel ban .
Swiss, Singapore, US and UK authorities are investigating the 1MDB case.
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