NZ rebuts Anifah reveals Malaysia wanted charges dropped
Dokumen dedah Malaysia mahu tuduhan digugurkan...
Dokumen itu juga menunjukkan bahawa Malaysia juga meminta pertuduhan terhadap Muhammad Rizalman Ismail – memecah rumah dan serangan dengan niat untuk merogol – digugurkan.
Antara dokumen dikeluarkan, surat Pejabat Suruhanjaya Tinggi Malaysia kepada Kementerian Luar dan Perdagangan (MFAT) New Zealand.
Menurut surat bertarikh 21 Mei itu, Pejabat Suruhanjaya Tinggi Malaysia memohon bantuan Kementerian Luar dan Perdagangan (MFAT) dan polis New Zealand untuk menutup kes dan menarik balik kesemua pertuduhan.
Surat itu sebagai balasan kepada sepucuk lagi surat MFAT, bertarikh 10 Mei yang menuntut supaya kekebalan diplomatik Rizalman dilucutkan bagi membolehkan tindakan di mahkamah di New Zealand dilakukan.
“Pejabat Suruhanjaya Tinggi Malaysia dengan hormatnya memaklumkan bahawa kerajaan Malaysia tidak akan melucutkan kekebalan yang diberikan kepada En Muhammad Rizalman Ismail dan memutuskan beliau patut dihantar pulang ke Malaysia secepat mungkin.
“Sekiranya Kementerian Luar dan Perdagangan New Zealand menerimanya, Pejabat Suruhanjaya Tinggi mencadangkan menghantarnya pulang kepada keluarganya di rumah pada Khamis, 22 Mei 2014, pada 1.15pm melalui MH130,” menurut surat itu.
Dokumen itu didedahkan hari ini, atas permintaan Fairfax Media, di bawah undang-undang kebebasan maklumat New Zealand.- mk
NZ rebuts Anifah, reveals Malaysia wanted charges dropped...
Hours after Malaysian Foreign Minister Anifah Aman played down accusations the country was out to protect a Malaysian diplomat accused of sexual assault, the New Zealand government has turned the tables on him.
New Zealand released documents rebutting Anifah's claim that Wellington had offered to allow Muhmmad Rizalman Ismail to return home despite the alleged offence.
The documents also show that the Malaysian side asked for the charges of burglary and assault with the intent to rape against Rizalman to be dropped.
One
of the two documents released is the Malaysian High Commission's letter
to New Zealand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT)."The High Commission of Malaysia would like to also seek the cooperation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade of New Zealand and the New Zealand police to kindly consider sealing all documentation pertaining to the above mentioned matter and withdrawing all charges against Muhammad Rizalman Ismail,” reads the May 21 letter, sighted by Malaysiakini.
The letter was in response to another letter from MFAT, dated May 10 to the Malaysian High Commission requesting that Rizalman's diplomatic immunity be waived for him to face legal action in New Zealand.
"The High Commission of Malaysia has the honour to inform that the government of Malaysia will not waive the personal immunity granted to Muhammad Rizalman Ismail and has decided that he should be repatriated to Malaysia as soon as possible.
"Should the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade of New Zealand accept this arrangement, the High Commission proposes to send him and his family back home on Thursday, May 22, 2014, at 1.15pm by MH130," says the letter from the Malaysian mission.
At a press conference at Wisma Putra (right)
in Putrajaya earlier today, Anifah claimed Malaysia had met with New
Zealand officials on May 12 and offered to waive Rizalman's immunity but
their counterparts had offered an "alternative" to allow him to return
home.Anifah also said Rizalman who is a warrant officer, will face the Military Court in Malaysia.
The documents were released in Wellington today, upon a request by Fairfax Media, under New Zealand’s freedom of information law.
Another document released by Wellington is the May 10 letter by MFAT to the Malaysian High Commission. No other document pertaining to the events between May 10 and May 21 were released.
NZ police want offences prosecuted
MFAT's May 10 letter reads: "The New Zealand Police believes that it is in the public interest to prosecute these offences due to the serious nature of the offending by Muhammad Rizalman bin Ismail and has accordingly requested the Ministry to pursue appropriate avenues to enable a prosecution against Mr Ismail (sic) to proceed.
"In order for the New Zealand Police to proceed with the prosecution of Mr Ismail (sic), the Ministry therefore wishes to seek from the Malaysian authorities a waiver of the personal immunity granted to Mr Ismail under Article 31 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and of the personal inviolability granted under Article 29."
Rizalman, who is a defence staff assistant, was arrested by New Zealand police on May 9, after he followed a 21-year-old woman home and allegedly assaulted her, purportedly with the intention to commit rape.
He was charged on May 10 for burglary and assault with intent to commit rape, both of which carry a maximum jail sentence of 10 years.
The high-profile case was only made public in New Zealand last Saturday.
The New Zealand press was only allowed to name Rizalman today, after a High Court judge in the country's judge lifted a suppression order on his details, which were obtained a day after the case went public.
When contacted, Anifah told Malaysiakini to refer to McCully's statement claiming "misunderstanding" in formal communications.- mk
Letters released by Wellington
May 10 - Letter from High Commission of Malaysia
May 21 - Letter from NZ Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade
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