Yesterday, former police special branch deputy director Abdul Hamid Bador is reported to have said in a Malaysiakini report entitled “SRC’s witnesses hidden away by certain powers” as follows;
“there are efforts to hide the main witnesses. They are those wanted by the MACC.”
“There are efforts (such that) the witness hides himself with the help of certain powers”.
The officer went on further to accuse those “certain powers” of meddling in the work of the enforcement agencies and issuing statements to scare enforcement officers in that report.
This comes from no ordinary policeman but one of high standing within the police force. It is a serious allegation.
Suppressing information or interfering with officers or witnesses in a criminal investigation is wrong. It points towards obstruction of justice and may amount to a criminal offence under s186 of the Penal Code.
S186 reads as follows:
” Whoever voluntarily obstructs any public servant in the discharge of his public functions, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to two years or with fine which may extend to ten thousand ringgit or with both.”
We cannot allow allegations like these to remain. They go to the root of it all. Silence in the light of such serious allegations would lead to a serious loss of confidence in our criminal justice system. It also makes it look toothless and hopeless.
There must therefore be a full and open investigation into this matter. We must find out who these “certain powers” are and act against them if investigations reveal that they have offended the law.
The AG and IGP must therefore tell us what they propose to now do about it.