The Age in Australia exposed the payment of kickbacks by a Melbourne developer to Majlis Amanah Rakyat (Mara) top executives over the purchase of a property last Tuesday.
At first, the response of the Police was that they will wait for contact from the Australian Police before taking any further action. The Federal Commercial Crime Investigation Department director, Datuk Seri Mortadza Nazarene, said Bukit Aman was aware of the issue based on media reports, but had yet to receive any request from Australia.
“We are always ready to help in any way but so far, we have not received any request from Australia. The investigation is being conducted in Melbourne and we can only get involved if local police ask for assistance,” he said on Friday last week.
Three days later, the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar, was double-quick in dismissing any criminal investigations against Mara officials and passes the buck completely to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Agency (MACC).
“We see no elements of CBT in this case, so the MACC will conduct the entire investigation,” he said.
How did the Police suddenly, and so quickly decided that there wasn’t any element of criminal breach of trust, or any other penal code offences in the disgraceful Mara scandal? Was it because the Minister in-charge of Mara, Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal declared two days ago on 27 June 2015 that the transaction was in accordance to procedure and hence, above board?
The Section 405 of our Penal Code specifically states that “whoever, being in any manner entrusted with property… dishonestly misappropriates, or converts to his own use, that property… commits “criminal breach of trust”.
The Code even provided the example of “A, a collector of Government money, or a clerk in a Government office, is entrusted with public money, and is either directed by law, or bound by a contract express or implied, with the Government, to pay into a certain treasury all the public money which he holds. A dishonestly appropriates the money. A has committed criminal breach of trust.”
Clearly in this case, there is a prima facie case of Mara top officials “dishonestly appropriates the money” when they were entrusted to invest funds allocated to Mara by the Government. The misappropriation was carried out via the inflation of the price to acquire a property, Dudley International House in Melbourne.
The IGP had closed the case before investigations even commenced, despite the fact that the vendors for the said property have admitted in a sworn testimony that they inflated the price of the property.
The Age also have in its possession, “false invoices” to prove that a bribe was indeed paid. “This paperwork can all be provided to Malaysian authorities. It is already in the hands of the Australian federal police,” according to the journalist from The Age, Nick McKenzie.
It is shameful that it is the Australian journalists who are asking the Malaysian Police the right questions. The Age and Sydney Morning Herald’s Asia-Pacific editor John Garnaut asked, “[the officials] stole A$4.75 million in Malaysian government money, taxpayer money, and we documented this theft beyond any reasonable doubt. Is Mara arguing that the agency’s officials could have gotten away with stealing more?”
The question Malaysians must similarly ask, why is Bukit Aman doing their utmost to wash their hands off the case, pretending that there is no crime committed under their jurisdiction? Perhaps more importantly, who are they trying to protect?