'No updates on false report claim against Arifin' - whistleblower

Summary

• A whistleblower is seeking updates from the police after filing a report two months ago accusing the Sabah governor’s son-in-law, Arifin Arif, of lodging a false police report.

• The whistleblower’s lawyer says no formal statement has been recorded and urges that investigations proceed smoothly, offering full cooperation and evidence.

• The original claim involves alleged corruption and a settlement offer, which Arifin has denied.

The whistleblower who exposed the alleged corruption scandal in Sabah is seeking updates from the police regarding his report accusing the Sabah governor’s son-in-law of filing a false police report.

In a letter from the whistleblower’s lawyer to the Serdang CID chief Nazaruddin Abd Razak, the counsel Mahajoth Singh noted that two months have passed since his client lodged the police report.

“But to date, no statement has been recorded from our client, and our client has yet to receive any feedback regarding the latest status of the case,” he said in a letter sighted by Malaysiakini, which is dated today.

He asked the police for an update on the case and assurance that investigations would continue smoothly until its conclusion.

“Our client is prepared to provide full cooperation by producing relevant and crucial evidence, and a lineup of credible witnesses towards establishing a concrete case against Arifin Arif,” said Mahajoth.

Arifin (above) is the Membakut assemblyperson and son-in-law of Sabah governor Musa Aman.

Apart from writing to Nazaruddin, the letter is also being copied to Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail, Inspector-General of Police Razarudin Husain, Bukit Aman CID chief Mohd Shuhaily Mohd Zain, and the case’s investigating officer based at the Serdang police district headquarters.

Previously, Malaysiakini reported that the businessperson-turned-whistleblower claimed that Arifin had offered him a settlement to silence him.

Arifin vehemently denied the allegation and lodged a police report on Feb 5 claiming that he had been wrongly accused.

In turn, the whistleblower filed a police report against Arifin the next morning, claiming the latter had lodged a false report and had thereby committed an offence under Section 182 of the Penal Code.

The police report was lodged at the Bandar Puteri police station in Serdang.

According to Mahajoth’s letter, the whistleblower went to the Serdang district police headquarters later that day, ostensibly to have his statement recorded.

“However, the case’s investigating officer merely had a chat with our client and did not record any statement,” he said.

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