Sivarasa puzzled by Hisham's response...

PKR Subang MP R Sivarasa described Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussain's response to the Malaysiakini report of alleged crimes committed by attorney-general Abdul Gani Patail as a "classic case of an ostrich burying its head in the sand."

Last Sunday, Malaysiakini had detailed in an extensive report the alleged actions of Abdul Gani in a case involving the detention and later release of a suspected illegal gambling kingpin in Johor whose syndicate was said to have flourished with the alleged collusion of the former inspector-general of police Musa Hassan, who was then Johor chief police officer.

The web news portal claimed it had in its possession documents purporting to show that the AG's alleged deportment in the case was liable to charges of corruption, abuse of power and fabrication of evidence.

In a terse response to the Malaysiakini report, Home Minister Hishammuddin (right) was reported yesterday to have said: "Prove it, prove it."

Sivarasa, who will file an urgent motion in Parliament tomorrow to discuss the contents of the Malaysiakini

"It's typical of the minister's in-denial behaviour and most unbecoming of one purportedly educated in the law," said Sivarasa, who read law at Oxford on a Rhodes scholarship.

"A responsible response would have been to suggest that perhaps besides making allegations in a web news report, that a police report should be lodged," chided Sivarasa.

"Better still, that he had directed the police to lodge a report so that investigations could be launched as to whether the allegations were true.

"After all, the allegations on first blush were credible because Malaysiakini were saying they had the documentary evidence in the form of statutory declarations. Very rarely does it get as good as that," argued Sivarasa.

Re-open investigation into the case

The PKR legal eagle made the case for a re-opening of the investigation of five years ago into the controversy that was ignited by the detention of a ‘Tengku Goh' for allegedly running an illegal gambling syndicate in Johore.

Sivarasa explained: "The expose by Malaysiakini shows that there are two conflicting versions - the version uncovered by Commercial Crimes Investigation Department led by Ramli Yusuff showing that Musa Hassan (right) while Johor CPO was in cahoots with Tengku Goh running gambling and money-lending syndicates.

"The other version supposedly uncovered by the then ACA said that the allegations against Tengku Goh were fabricated. This version led to six police officers supposedly making these false allegations being charged, but the court hearing the charges found them so flimsy it did not even call for their defence.

"And sitting in the middle of all this is the albatross of the AG Patail, who supposedly pulled the file from the CCID and passed it to the ACA.

"Surely, the minister must see the obvious point staring at us all - that an independent inquiry was urgently needed to unearth the truth.

"Surely he must see that the last thing a responsible minister must do is to ask journalists to provide him ‘proof' before he takes action."
Sivarasa (left) said that journalists do not run investigation departments or courts - they unearth issues for ministers like him to act on.

"An inquiring public will next ask: Is Hishammuddin deliberately missing the point? What is his interest in covering up the matter?"

By filing an urgent motion in Parliament tomorrow on the matter, Sivarasa would be able to test whether the House's acoustics are receptive to the public's concerns.- malaysiakini

cheers.