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THURSDAY, AUGUST 6, 2020
KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA (AP) — Malaysian
police raided the of ice of news broadcaster
Al
Jazeera
and two local TV stations on Tuesday,
seizing computers as part of an investigation
into a documentary on undocumented
migrants that enraged the government.
Al Jazeera
, aQatari-state ownedbroadcaster,
said in a statement that police seized two
computers during the raid, which it called
a “troubling escalation” in a government
crackdownonmediafreedom.IturgedMalaysian
authorities to cease the criminal investigation.
Police opened an investigation last month
into the
Al Jazeera
documentary on the
treatment of undocumented migrants after
of icials complained it was inaccurate and
biased. Seven
Al Jazeera
staff members have
been grilled by police as part of the probe for
alleged sedition, defamation and violating the
Communications and Multimedia Act.
Police obtained court warrants to search
the of ices of
Al Jazeera
as well as local
broadcasters
Astro
and
Uni itv
, Criminal
Investigation Chief Huzir Mohamed said in
a statement. The two local TV stations had
reportedly aired the video.
Huzir said the raids were conducted
jointly with the Malaysian Communications
and Multimedia Commission, which is also
investigating the stations.
He said police seized computers which
will be sent for further analysis and took
statements from witnesses during the raids.
“No individual or entity will be spared from
action if they have violated the law,” he said.
Al Jazeera
said the raid was “an attack on
press freedomas awhole” and urgedMalaysian
authorities to cease the criminal investigation.
Conducting a raid on our of ice and seizing
computers is a troubling escalation in the
authorities’ crackdown onmedia freedom and
shows the lengths they are prepared to take
to try to intimidate journalists,” said
Al Jazeera
English Managing Director Giles Trendle.
“Al Jazeera stands by our journalists and
we stand by our reporting. Our staff did their
jobs and they’ve got nothing to answer for
or apologise for. Journalism is not a crime,”
he said.
The documentary, titled
Locked Up in
Malaysia’s Lockdown
, investigated undocu-
mented immigrants it said were at risk during
the coronavirus pandemic. More than 2,000
migrant workers were arrested during raids in
Malaysia police raid
Al Jazeera’s office,
seize computers
Australian Al Jazeera journalist, reporter/senior producer Drew Ambrose leaves the Bukit Aman
police headquarters after being questioned by the Malaysian police over a documentary about
the country’s arrests of undocumented migrants, in Kuala Lumpur. PHOTO: AP
areas in Kuala Lumpur that were placed under
tight virus lockdowns.
Malaysian authorities also detained a
Bangladeshimaninterviewedinthedocumentary
after revoking hiswork permit, and said theywill
deport him for criticising the government over
its handling of undocumented migrants.
“The authorities’ relentless pursuit of
Al
Jazeera
seems to be driven by a desire to
punish journalists who aired Malaysia’s dirty
laundry rather than a good faith application
of the law,” said Head of the Asia programme
of British-based rights group ARTICLE 19
Matthew Bugher.
He said Malaysia should investigate the
rights violations shown in the documentary
instead of targetting the ilmmakers.
Rights activists have voiced concern over
a clampdown on freedom of speech and
media independence under new Malaysian
Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin.
Astro
was recently ined for airing an
Al
Jazeera
documentary in 2015 about the 2006
murder of a Mongolian woman that allegedly
contained “offensive content”.
Popular online news portal
Malaysiakini
and
its editor face rare contempt proceedings from
the attorney general over comments posted
by readers against the judiciary. Police also
questioned an activist about a social media
post alleging mistreatment of refugees at
immigration detention centres.
A journalist from the Hong Kong-
based
South China Morning Post
was also
questioned earlier about her reporting on
migrant arrests.
KUALA LUMPUR (BERNAMA) - The defence
in the corruption trial of Datin Seri Rosmah
Mansor in connection with the supply and
installation of solar energy to 369 rural schools
in Sarawak, Malaysia, wants the prosecution to
produce a copy of the letter of appointment
of Datuk Seri Gopal Sri Ram as Senior Deputy
Public Prosecutor (DPP) in the case.
Rosmah’s lead counsel, Datuk Jagjit Singh
submitted that if there was no such letter
of appointment, then the former Federal
Court judge should gracefully opt out of
the proceedings.
“Thesoleobjectiveofseekingtheproduction
of the letter of appointment is to determine the
locus standi of the senior DPP (Sri Ram) to
appear and conduct this proceedings.
“Since the commencement of this trial,
there has been no document or letter of
appointment or any other instrument inwriting
advanced by the prosecution to con irm that
Sri Ram has been appointed Senior DPP,
speci ically for this case.
“In the absence of such document, this
honourable court must hold that Sri Ram is
not a it and proper person to act as DPP, let
alone to conduct the case,” he added.
Jagjit was submitting in Rosmah’s
application to obtain Sri Ram’s letter of
appointment as Senior DPP in her corruption
case before High Court Judge Mohamed
Zaini Mazlan.
He told the court that his client, who is
the wife of a former Malaysian prime minis-
ter, was entitled to verify the validity and the
legality of the appointment of a practicing advo-
cate and solicitor as a Senior DPP to prosecute
in her case, as she was facing serious charges.
The lawyer cited a Federal Court order in
the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB)’s
case of Rosmah’s husband Datuk Seri Najib
Tun Razak, which empowered the High Court
to issue the said order (production of letter of
appointment) to the former prime minister.
Deputy public prosecution Ahmad
Akram Gharib, in objecting the application,
said Rosmah was not entitled to the letter of
appointment as the law did not require the
production of the document and the counsel
had no right to see it.
He said if the appointment was being
challenged based on case law, it required only
production of the letter of appointment for the
court to view it without a corresponding duty
to supply the same to the counsel.
“The appointment of Sri Ram as Senior DPP
was never in doubt. The application was made
in themiddle of the trial after the applicant had
thoroughly acknowledged the presence and
authority of Sri Ram as Senior DPP.
“Sri Ram, too, had throughout the trial
openly exercised the duty of a Senior DPP,
a fact which is within the knowledge of the
public prosecutor and whose duty would be to
ensure that Sri Ram had not illegally occupied
the position,” he added.
Ahmad Akram also submitted that
the Federal Court order, which the applicant
relied upon, was not the authority for the
proposition that the court was empowered to
issue the order as sought by the applicant.
He said the order impacted only the duty of
the prosecution in the 1MDB case to disclose
the letter of appointment to both the court
and the counsel.
“In the absence of a reasoned judgment,
the order does not bind and impose a duty on
this honourable court to issue the same order
as the Federal Court did,” he said.
After hearing submissions from both
parties Justice Mohamed Zaini ixed August
17 for decision.
Rosmah, 68, is on trial on one count of
soliciting MYR187.5 million and two counts of
receiving MYR6.5 million in bribes from Jepak
Holdings Sdn Bhd’s Managing Director Saidi
Abang Samsudin in connection with the solar
energy project.
Rosmah entitled to verify validity of
Sri Ram’s letter of appointment: Counsel
The bribes were allegedly received
through her former assistant Datuk Rizal
Mansor, as a reward for helping Jepak
Holdings secure the Hybrid Photovoltaic
Solar System Integrated Project as well as
the maintenance and operation of diesel
gen-sets for 369 Sarawak rural schools
worth MYR1.25 billion from the Ministry of
Education through direct negotiation.
The acts were allegedly committed at Lygon
Cafe, Sunway Putra Mall, Jalan Putra; Rosmah’s
residence at Jalan Langgak Duta, Taman Duta
and at Seri Perdana, Persiaran Seri Perdana,
Precinct 10, Putrajaya between January 2016
and September 2017.
Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor at the Malaysian
High Court. PHOTO: BERNAMA
KUANTAN (BERNAMA) - A businessman in
Malaysia claimed to have lost MYR295,950
purportedly by the act of his 14-year-old
son, who is believed to have been deceived
by a ‘love scam’ syndicate.
Pahang Commercial Crime Inves-
tigation Chief Superintendent Mohd
Wazir Mohd Yusof said that according
to the 53-year-old businessman, his son
befriended the girl, who claimed to
sell mobile phones at a cheap price
on Facebook.
“The father said his son had contacted
the phone number displayed on the
social site and after that his relationship
with the girl became closer and they
often contacted one another through
WhatsApp and also played together in an
online game.
“After a few months, the girl, who
used the name Anis, allegedly started
persuading the victim’s son to lend her
money for various reasons with promises to
pay it back,” he told reporters yesterday.
The victim said his son started to make
the money transfers to the account given
by the girl in May this year, and so far, he
had performed 21 transactions involving
the transfer of MYR295,950.
Mohd Wazir said the businessman
only realised his son’s actions last month
and told the son to ask the girl to return
the money.
However, the girl stopped responding
to the boy’s WhatsApp messages when he
demanded for her to return the money, he
said, adding that the businessman lodged
a police report at the Cameron Highlands
police station.
Businessman
loses MYR295,950
after son duped
in love scam