• Nazri: New identity can be arranged for whistleblower
©New
Straits Times (Used by permission)
by Shahrul Hafeez
KUALA KANGSAR: The probe into the “Linggam”
video clip will come to a dead
end if the witnesses who can verify it do not come forward, Datuk Seri Nazri
Aziz said.
“Without their co–operation, how can we attest to the
recording’s authenticity?” the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department said
yesterday.
Nazri, who is in charge of law, guaranteed that the witnesses would be accorded
full government protection, including a change of identities if necessary.
He said cover for informants was provided for under the Witness Protection Bill tabled recently in parliament.
He said the bill provided protection for witnesses so that their identities could be kept a secret, including administrative and other operations necessary to effect changes in their personal details.
The bill places witness provisions under various statutes,
such as the Prevention of Corruption Act and Anti–Money Laundering Act, under a
single ambit.
“There is a misconception that such protection can only be given through the
setting up of a royal commission.
“This is not correct. The government and the police, too, can extend this
protection to witnesses,” he said.
Nazri was responding to Keadilan officials who refused to name the sources of
the video recording on claims that their safety would be compromised.
The three officials questioned by Anti–Corruption Agency (ACA) officers over the
past week said that although the agency was willing to protect the sources,
their personal safety lay outside the ACA’s powers.
Nazri affirmed this fact, adding that the power to do so rested with the
government and the police.
“I guarantee that we will protect the sources. Trust the government to do so.
“Who else can do it but the government? Can Keadilan do it? I don’t think so,”
he said.
Nazri added that it was important for the independent panel investigating the
authenticity of the recording to know where it came from.
Tan Sri Haidar Mohd Noor leads the three–member panel — the others being Datuk
Mahadev Shankar and Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye — which has been given 30 working days
from their appointment on Sept 27 to complete the investigation into the
authenticity of the recording.
Nazri stressed that the panel had not been formed in order to go after the
whistleblowers or penalise the sources, and urged them to come forward.
Nazri was met at the handing over of Hari Raya contributions to the poor and
underprivileged in his parliamentary constituency, Padang Rengas.
State assemblymen Datuk Siti Salmah Mat Jusak (Chenderoh) and Datuk Jamal Nasir
Rasdi (Lubok Merbau) were also present at the event which saw more than 300
people being given Raya gifts.