©Malay Mail (Used by permission)
KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 2 — Malaysia has no law that makes it criminal for any person to complain against any company, even state–owned ones, the Malaysian Bar said today as it urged the police to immediately release 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) critic, Khairuddin Abu Hassan.
The peninsula–based professional legal body stressed that lodging police reports with foreign enforcement agencies against a Malaysian company cannot be regarded as being an activity “detrimental to parliamentary democracy”, or “sabotage”, or an “attempt to commit sabotage”, referring to Section 124C, Section 124K and Section 124L of the Penal Code respectively that was used to detain Khairuddin for investigation.
“The lodging of reports against a corporate entity cannot be regarded as an act against the State, even if the company is owned by the State,” Malaysian Bar president Steven Thiru said in a statement, noting that Sections 124C, 124K and 124L are under Part VI of the Penal Code that deals with offences against the State.
“It would therefore appear that the grounds for the arrest and detention of Datuk Seri Khairuddin cannot be justified. The action taken against Datuk Seri Khairuddin is widely perceived as the latest attempt to silence dissent and harass critics who seek answers to the allegations of financial impropriety relating to 1MDB,” he added.
Steven also said the “apparent misuse” of the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 (SOSMA), under which Khairuddin was detained on September 23 for 28 days, would discourage witnesses or whistleblowers from providing information or from lodging reports against state investment firm 1MDB.
“The Malaysian Bar urges the police to release Datuk Seri Khairuddin immediately, and to cease the misuse of SOSMA,” said the lawyer.
Khairuddin — who had been on a global tour to solicit investigations by other countries into 1MDB after US–based business daily Wall Street Journal published a series of reports alleging dubious activities involving the state–owned firm — filed a habeas corpus application at the High Court here last Monday to challenge his detention.