AG, IGP cleared in Anwar's black eye incident

PUTRAJAYA, WED:

A three-member independent panel acting as deputy public prosecutors, found that Attorney-General (AG) Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail and Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Tan Sri Musa Aman did not fabricate evidence in the Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim "black eye" incident in 1998.

"After studying the case carefully and in depth, Tan Sri Abdul Gani and Tan Sri Musa did not commit any criminal offence as alleged by Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim," said the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) in a statement today.

As such, the MACC chief commissioner also found no criminal case against the two.

The independent panel comprised two former Federal Court judges and a Court of Appeal judge, Datuk Abdul Kadir Sulaiman, Datuk Wira Mohd Noor Ahmad and Datuk Mohamad Noor Abdullah, who were appointed as DPPs in the case by the Solicitor-General.
Anwar had in July last year, alleged that Abdul Gani and Musa had fabricated evidence or information pertaining to the assault on him, giving him a black eye, by the then IGP Tan Sri Abdul Rahim Noor while in police custody in 1998.

The statement said MACC viewed seriously Anwar''s allegation that the commission failed to act against the AG and IGP after he lodged a police report.

Following this, MAAC (which was then known as the Anti-Corruption Agency -ACA) carried out a two-month investigation from July 2, 2008, with Abdul Gani and Musa as the prime subjects of the investigation, which recorded statementsfrom witnesses including Anwar himself.

Taking into consideration that this was a sensitive, high-profile and public-interest case, the MACC proposed the setting up of an independent panelwith the three members acting as DPPs to look into the case, the statement said.

Meanwhile, in the Dewan Rakyat today, Minister in the Prime Minister''s Department Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz said the panel members did notdiscuss the case among themselves and dealt with it professionally andmeticulously.

"Majority-wise, the panel found that the AG and IGP did not commit anycriminal offence in the case as alleged," he said in reply to a question fromGobind Singh Deo (DAP-Puchong).

Mohamed Nazri said two of the three panel members cleared Abdul Ghani of any wrongdoing while all the members made the same decision on Musa.

"I am not able to say here who had agreed or disagreed (with regards to allegation against Abdul Ghani)," he said, adding that the panel''s decision tooktime to be announced as several factors had to be considered.

News by NST online..