Mat Zain insists A-G interferred in ‘black-eye case’

By Clara Chooi
The Malaysian Insider
December 10, 2010

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 10 — A former investigating officer stood by his recent allegations that Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail had fabricated evidence during the infamous 1998 “black-eye incident” involving Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, and warned he would continue to speak up.

Datuk Mat Zain Ibrahim, who was the investigating officer in the case involving the assault of Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim in police custody, made his second appeal in another open letter to Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Ismail Omar today, calling for the 12-year-old case to be reopened.

“I leave it to your discretion, Tan Sri, to make the best decision on behalf of the Royal Malaysian Police (RMP); one that is fair to all parties.

“However I also protect my right to proceed or stop right now, my correspondence pertaining to this issue or to any other issue related to it,” he wrote.

The former KL CID chief said the Home Ministry’s declaration last week that the “black-eye” case would remain closed clearly showed the government’s intention to protect “certain individuals”.

Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein had told DAP MP Lim Kit Siang last Monday that there was no need to reopen the “black-eye” case as the police had no reason to believe that false evidence had been given during the investigation.

“The RMP has conducted checks on the investigation involving Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim in the ‘black-eye case’ in 1998. There was nothing to indicate the occurrence of false evidence in the investigation,” Hishammuddin had written in a letter to the parliamentarian.

“I apologise because I have to state my opinion here that the current stand of the police in preparing Hishammuddin’s answer is vastly different from its stand when it was handling the investigation in 1998.

“Its stand this time looks intended to protect certain individuals,” Mat Zain said.

He warned that failure to investigate his allegations against the A-G would lead the police force, yet again, to the “brink of collapse”.

Anwar’s “black-eye” incident had done considerable damage to the public’s perception on the credibility of the police force and the Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad administration in 1998, earning the former deputy prime minister much local and foreign sympathy.

“I am sure Tan Sri still remembers how a one-page letter dated September 21, 1953 signed by an acting State Secretary had become one of the main reasons that led to the contamination of Malaysia’s dignity and sovereignty when we were forced to surrender Pulau Batu Putih (Pedra Branca) to Singapore.

“Imagine what the falsification of 65 pages of a document, on the orders of the country’s lawyers, could do to the country’s criminal justice system,” Mat Zain pointed out.

He questioned if the Home Ministry’s response had been prepared in such a manner due to missing documents in the case’s investigation report, which he claimed had been deliberately lost.

“During the investigation, several important documents were lost while in the hands of the A-G and we had to replace them with duplicate copies.

“The entire investigation paper had even temporarily disappeared for about three weeks between October 30 and November 20, 1998, like what I explained in my first letter.

“So it is no wonder if there were limitations in the contents of the investigation report because they were hidden for a long time in the A-G’s Chambers,” he claimed.

Mat Zain continued to question how and where three allegedly “falsified” medical reports, prepared by Dr Abdul Rahman Yusof, could have gone missing when two of the three documents had been used in the royal commission of inquiry probe in 1999.

“These reports were not just one or two pages, which can be overlooked. All three reports were 65 pages in total.

“I am sure Tan Sri is an expert on case laws regarding falsification and how every case of falsification is done deliberately. There is no occurrence of a fabrication this large to have not been done deliberately.

“I would like to stress that the falsification of all three reports was done through careful planning, preparation and a deliberate intention to fulfil clear motives. My diary on the investigation and my minutes can help identify the events of these falsifications,” he said.

Mat Zain related that in the commission’s proceedings between February 22 and March 4, 1999, both Abdul Gani and the late former A-G Tan Sri Mohtar Abdullah had separately told Dr Rahman to prepare the first two allegedly falsified medical reports.

“I found out that the findings in the commission’s proceedings had caused Mohtar to panic. He had not known that Abdul Gani had already told Dr Rahman to prepare a report earlier. He was also not aware of Dr Rahman’s background and it is likely that if he would not have appointed him to prepare the report if he had known that Abdul Gani had already done so because any event of falsification can be easily be traced.

“I was later told that Abdul Gani tried to correct the situation. What I can verify for certain is that Dr Rahman himself requested, even begged, my assistants to seek my co-operation to include a third report to neutralise the first two, which I refused,” he claimed.

However, Mat Zain added, when the commission’s findings were printed and presented to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong and later declared a public document, it was found that only the second medical report had been included in the document.

“To be fair to Abdul Gani, I do not have information to say that he had a hand in making sure the first report was not included in the final document but I would not be shocked if he was indeed involved because he has a personal stake in it.

“What is worrying here is that if even the royal commission of inquiry’s report can be manipulated, just imagine what can be done to investigation records involving common citizens,” he said.

Mat Zain hoped IGP Ismail would take another look at the case and reminded him that no one had the power to indemnify any individual from criminal liability.

“It is important to look at the fabrications that occurred in the investigation of the ‘black-eye’ case and in all other cases related to it, to identify who the main players are.

“The evidence, whether direct or circumstantial, has been very clear,” he said.

Putrajaya is expected to decide on Monday whether Mat Zain’s revelations would warrant a second round of investigations.

In July 2008, Anwar had filed a police report accusing Abdul Gani, Mat Zain, Musa (then a senior investigation officer in 1998) and Dr Rahman of falsifying a medical report on his black-eye case.

Tan Sri Rahim Noor, the IGP in 1998, had taken the fall for the incident and had admitted he assaulted Anwar following the royal commission of inquiry probe in 1999.

He has since been convicted of the crime and sentenced to two months’ jail and a fine of RM2,000. Rahim has completed his sentence