The Malaysian Insight

NAJIB Razak’s lawyer believes that the tapping of the former prime minister’s phone in early 2016 could only have been carried out as a result of a conspiracy within the government, and not an individual.

“I have my doubts that it is an individual,” Muhammad Shafee Abdullah told reporters after the SRC International hearing today.  

“I want to hazard a guess. I think it is an inside job. It is an insider that has done it and they suddenly realised they have to influence the case (against Najib) and they leaked it.”

Shafee was commenting on the audio recordings which were released by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) earlier today that uncovered a conspiracy to manipulate high-level government information on the 1Malaysia Development Bhd scandal.

Shafee, who is representing Najib in three ongoing criminal trials, believes the phone tapping of a sitting prime minister is illegal.

“You can’t do it. You have got to have authority and nothing less than from the attorney-general’s side,” he said.

“It could be attorney-general himself, or the solicitor-general who gives you permission, or there must be a level of security clearance before you get a wiretap.”

Shafee also said the audio clips will not be admissible as evidence in court as MACC chief Latheefa Koya had said earlier today that the agency received the clips from an anonymous source recently.

“If the person wants to remain anonymous, clearly it is not admissible because in order for the tape recording to be admissible, you have to show a few things. The history and genuineness,” the lawyer said.

“I think there is a lot more suspicion on who recorded it because there is a capacity to record not just Najib alone, but also him with (former MACC chief) Dzulkifli (Ahmad), Najib with heads of government.

“Whoever did it has breached every single law that I know.”

Shafee said the normal procedure would be launching a confidential investigation from a police or MACC report.

The lawyer believes Latheefa has breached the Official Secrets Act as certain matters discussed in her press conference today are likely classified.

“Latheefa herself said these are official secrets that Dzulkifli was discussing. She is guilty of the same thing because these matters have yet to be investigated,” Shafee said.

“The worst thing was that all this information was played to the public when she herself knew her agency was not going to investigate.

“She said she’s passing the entire investigation to the police. What she literally has done is that she’s pre-empted (the police) and emptied the investigation file to the police that is about to investigate.”

Shafee said the defence team is now considering taking legal action.

“Releasing the recordings now and discussing the matter is subjudice and it is in fact contempt. We are seriously contemplating contempt action against MACC, in particular, Latheefa Koya.”

He said that as a lawyer herself, Latheefa should know her actions were contemptuous.

“Since when, when it comes to national security, you reveal it to the public at large. By the nature of it, national security is a secret matter kept within the agency that investigates,” he said.

Shafee also questioned Latheefa’s motives.

“She was a politician before. Maybe habits die hard. She remains a politician even today.

“As a chief commissioner, she seemed to time her statements quite conveniently. Every time we have a by-election, some sort of this kind of issue comes up. And this time this was about the recordings.

“Is she interested in the outcome of Kimanis (by-election)? Then she should resign and go back to politics because you have to make up your mind,” Shafee added. – January 8, 2020.