Tricky Bobby & Rosli Dahlan?

There you have it. MACC consultation an corruption prevention panel member Tan Sri Robert Phang did try to bribe a Chief Secretary of a powerful Ministry. This is really bad for graft-buster to be involved in an act of graft itself.

This is the same man who tried to ‘gun-down’ Attorney General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail for his recent Hajj trip with his wife. When he went to explain to the top echelons of MACC, which include some of the Commissioners, Phang was very adamant that Gani must be investigated for corrupt practices. He even refuted MACC consultation and corruption prevention panel Chairman Tan Sri Ramon Navaratnam’s opinion in the open, a press statement:

PRESS STATEMENT BY TAN SRI DATUK ROBERT PHANG MIOW SIN

Chairman – Social Care Foundation

Panel Advisor of Malaysia Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC)

RESPONSE TO DISCLOSURE BY TAN SRI RAMON NAVARATNAM OF A CONFIDENTIAL MEETING

1.            On Tuesday 4th January 2011, a meeting was held at the Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission Academy (MACC). 30 members of the MACC board and panel members attended this meeting with the Attorney General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail. I was amongst those invited to attend this meeting. As usual it is only an invitation basis and we were told this was a confidential meeting.

2.            I was thus surprised to read that evening’s news reports that the MACC Corruption Prevention Panel Chairman Tan Sri Ramon Navaratnam had issued a statement to the effect that the MACC members who attended this meeting were satisfied with Abdul Gani’s explanation and found that there was no need to investigate the allegations of Abdul Gani’s connection with former MAS Chairman, Tan Sri Tajuddin’s proxy, one En Shahidan Shafie.

3.            I am equally surprised not just because Ramon’s statement couldn’t be further from the truth, but also because Ramon had breached the confidentiality of this meeting by making this public disclosure. That Ramon can be in a haste to issue such a statement will inevitably invite further allegations that the board and panel members who attended this meeting were just rubberstamps to preserve the AG’s position. By his actions, Ramon has eroded any vestige of credibility that may be left of the MACC,  its advisory panels and other committee members.

4.            I am therefore compelled to respond because I am a member of the same MACC Corruption Prevention Panel of which Ramon is the Chairman. One thing I must agree with Ramon is that Abdul Gani had indeed gone out on a limb and had gone overboard in trying to convince us of his innocence and that he had no close relationship with En Shahidan. To me and others, it was a sorry sight.

5.            I regret Ramon’s statement that  – “ MACC members were satisfied with Abdul Gani’s explanation and found that there was no need to investigate the allegations”. I also resent Tan Sri Ramon’s statement that – “We found that there was no case at all to accuse him of being linked to Tajuddin just because of this Haj trip. It was irresponsible to allege that he was in any way linked.”

6.            I consider Ramon’s statement to be a direct attack on me as I had earlier called on Abdul Gani to clear the air over public allegations of his relationship with Shahidan and the Mecca Haj pilgrimage. I was concerned that Abdul Gani’s silence would fuel deeper suspicions and confusion.

7.            Ramon can speak for himself but he has no mandate from me or the other panel members to make that statement on our behalf. That was not how I perceived the meeting. What was certain was that my esteemed colleagues who attended the meeting did not want to humiliate Abdul Gani any further. It was not our intention to humble the Top Lawyer of the country.

8.            It is therefore imperative for Abdul Gani to dispel any suspicion surrounding his conduct of consorting with Shahidan Shafie and the Mecca Haj pilgrimage. The public needs to be satisfied as to why Abdul Gani had not acted on the recommendations of the then Director of Commercial Crimes Department, Dato’ Ramli Yusuff, that Tajudin should be prosecuted. Inevitable the public already perceived that the AG’s decision to prosecute Dato’ Ramli as an attempt to cover up the MAS scandal.

9.            I deeply regret that Ramon considers these allegations against Abdul Gani as just loose talks, rumours and speculations with no proper basis. I fear the public will see this as just another whitewash.

10.            These are matters that have been in the public domain and it is only fit and proper that I remind the powers that be of the public displeasure.

“HUMBLENESS IS GOOD VIRTUE, ARROGANCE SHALL FALL, THE MEEK WILL RULE THE WORLD”.

Tan Sri Datuk Robert Phang Miow Sin

Justice of Peace

***************

We can’t help it but to wonder why is Phang behaving in such a bold manner that this could bring the image of the MACC down. His statement was damning. Now, if this allegation of Phang attempted to bribe a career top civil servant, it is scandalous. It is thinning of the wedge.

Then we began to ponder the MACC case against Rosli Dahlan, which the latter got an acquittal almost a month ago. Rosli is the chap closely linked to former Commercial Crime Director Dato’ Ramli Yusuf, who was acquitted also. Phang is said to be very close to Ramli when the latter was the Sabah Police Commissioner.

MACC went after Rosli thinking that he was the proxy to Ramli, since Ramli as a career Policeman amassed so much an unaccounted wealth.

The plot gets more complicated when the Phang-Gani thingy could be related to the ‘Royal Commission on Anwar Ibrahim’s Black Eye’, which was raised recently and implicated Gani and former IGP Tan Sri Musa Hassan.   The 1999 RCI on the Black Eye determined that former IGP Tan Sri Abdul Rahim Noor slugged former Deputy Prime Minister Anwar “Mat King Leather” Ibrahim which caused the ‘Black Eye’. Ramli, then Deputy Director of CID and holding Deputy Commissioner of Police rank was present in the cell when Rahim slugged Anwar and no records showed that he filed any report on the act even though he was very well aware that Rahim had committed a felony.

This attempt to go against Gani is suspiciously looking like a concerted effort protect persons who are ‘closely linked’ to the ‘Lords of the Underworld Vices’. In fact, its a probable political spinning. Today, it was said that Rosli is taking MACC to court for ‘wrongful charge’. The plot gets thicker.

Is there a link between Phang and Rosli?

It is clear that Phang is going after Gani and Musa and Rosli is after MACC’s blood. These are the premier crime fighting agencies. Bringing these agencies even to a position where their ‘defense system’ are down simply making the vulnerable to other attacks. Especially when some parties could strategically benefit from this vulnerability and it was all along part of their strategy to climb into power.

How issue brought against Gani and Musa is a demonstration that Ramli has been ‘advising’ the Oppositions, particularly former-abuse-of-power-convict Anwar Ibrahim.

Anwar’s sodomy case is going well into the fourth gear despite a good 23 times to delay and twice to recuse the trial judge. The ‘Teoh Beng Hock sudden death’ case is now into political overdrive. The Selangor Pakatan Rakyat Government is in so much trouble and there are criminal conducts of the members which have yet to surface.

Let us get our priorities right. Gani, Musa and MACC Chief Commissioner Dato’ Seri Abu Kassim are all crime fighters. It is bad that Phang managed to wiggle himself as an MACC Commissioner. It is time to differentiate who are the ‘good guys’ & ‘bad guys’. The Opposition whose long term strategy to fight their way into power had a ‘demonising the law enforcement agencies’ as top of their list.