Ex-cop says tribunal probe will implicate A-G, Musa in ‘black eye’ case

by Clara Chooi
The Malaysian Insider
Mar 16, 2012

KUALA LUMPUR, March 16 — A former senior policeman wants Datuk Seri Najib Razak to set up a tribunal to investigate Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail and Tan Sri Musa Hassan, saying that this would find the duo guilty of fabricating evidence in Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s “black eye” incident.

Datuk Mat Zain Ibrahim, who was the investigating officer in the “black eye” case, claimed today that both men were never investigated for “evidence fabrication” and had only been cleared of “abuse of power” allegations.

He claimed this could be a “new lead” that would warrant the formation of the tribunal.

The former KL CID chief said only a tribunal endorsed by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong could conduct a probe on Abdul Gani as the latter is currently the Attorney-General. Musa is a former Inspector-General of Police.

But Mat Zain predicted Najib’s refusal to heed his request, pointing out that Abdul Gani and Musa’s conviction would prove that Anwar had been victimised during the 13-year-old case.

“I believe that once it is proven that Gani and Musa fabricated evidence used during trial until it led to Anwar’s jail sentence, then this would in turn prove that Anwar has indeed been victimised all this time.

“When this happens, not only would Gani and Musa face the possibility of imprisonment of up to 21 years, the government’s credibility would also be destroyed,” Mat Zain said in an open letter addressed to Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Ismail Omar and copied to Najib today.

Despite this, Mat Zain said Najib and his government could not continue protecting Abdul Gani and Musa, claiming that proof of the duo’s guilt was too strong to be challenged and “even more conclusive than DNA”.

He even alleged that Najib was fully aware of this but was likely too afraid of the consequences to ensure both men are brought justice.

Explaining his claim that Abdul Gani and Musa have not been investigated for fabricating evidence, Mat Zain alleged that the first investigation by graftbusters into Anwar’s July 1, 2008 report that evidence was fabricated in his “black eye” case was a “decoy”.

This, he explained, was because the report was classified under section 15 of the Anti-Corruption Act 1997 for “abuse of power for gratifications” and not for “giving or falsifying evidence” under section 192 of the Penal Code.

“As far as I know, the ingredients to prove fault under section 15 of the ACA Act is vastly different from the offence of falsifying evidence under the Penal Code… Section 15, in my experience, is totally irrelevant to the investigation on false evidence,” he said.

Mat Zain added that if Abdul Gani and Musa had nothing to hide at the time, they should have been the ones to advice the then Anti-Corruption Agency that its investigation scope was flawed.

“In short, Gani and Musa, Dr Abdul Rahman and I (the four suspects named in the ACA probe) were never, I repeat, were never, investigated for allegations of evidence fabrication according to section 192 of the Penal Code,” he said.

Mat Zain, who has been leading a one-man campaign against Abdul Gani and Musa, also declared full responsibility for his statements today, saying he was aware of the risks and consequences of his actions.

He said he was ready to testify in a “no-holds-barred” fashion before the tribunal for the sake of resolving the more-than-a-decade-old matter “once and for all”.