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KUALA LUMPUR, June 9 — Attorney-General (AG) Tan Sri Idrus Harun today said he decided to have the prosecution withdraw 46 corruption and money-laundering charges against Tan Sri Musa Aman, as the unavailability of documents from Hong Kong-based banks and the unavailability of some witnesses meant that proceeding with a trial would be untenable.
Among other things, Idrus also cited former AG Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail’s past decision regarding Musa’s case to justify the decision to drop the charges against the former Sabah chief minister.
“Having studied the whole available evidence and upon discussion being held with the prosecution and investigation team, I decided to withdraw all the charges against Tan Sri Musa Aman,” Idrus said a statement today regarding the former Sabah Umno chief’s case.
“In cases of this nature, documentary evidence is vital to prove a case. Documentary evidence from companies and banks which were expected could not be obtained through Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters from Hong Kong.
“The Department of Justice Hong Kong advised that companies and banks in Hong Kong are only required to keep records for seven (7) years and it is highly unlikely that neither the banks nor the companies would still have the records.
“Apart from that, there are witnesses for the prosecution who have passed away, suffered serious medical ailments or are not in Malaysia anymore,” he added.
Earlier in the statement, Idrus noted that Abdul Gani had as the AG then in 2012 decided not to charge Musa over the funds that were allegedly corruptly received, based on investigations that showed the funds to have been “political funding”.
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Excerpts:
An affidavit by former attorney-general (AG) Abdul Gani Patail aided former Sabah chief minister Musa Aman’s acquittal from graft charges.
This was revealed today by the current AG Idrus Harun, in explaining why prosecutors withdrew 46 charges against Musa this morning.
In a statement, Idrus said Gani (above) had issued the affidavit in support of Musa’s application to strike out the charges.
“The former AG defended the decision taken in 2012 to take no further action against Musa as investigation revealed the monies involved were political funding.
“The former AG also stated that the decision was made collectively, by high-level individuals being Abdul Majid Hamzah (former head of prosecution division), Abu Kassim Mohamad (former MACC chief commissioner) and Mustafar Ali (former MACC director of investigation division).
“After studying and perusing the investigation paper from a legal standpoint, the former AG in the exercise of his discretion decided not to proceed with prosecution,” he said.
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It was then found that some evidence could not be obtained or that some witnesses could no longer testify.
Moreover, said Idrus, the Independent Commission Against Corruption Hong Kong had cleared Musa of wrongdoing.
“Having studied the whole available evidence and upon discussion held with the prosecution and investigation team, I decided to withdraw all the charges against Musa.
“In cases of this nature, documentary evidence is vital to prove a case. Documentary evidence from companies and banks which were expected could not be obtained through mutual legal assistance in criminal matters from Hong Kong.
“The Department of Justice Hong Kong advised that companies and banks in Hong Kong are only required to keep records for seven years and it is highly unlikely that neither the banks nor the companies would still have the records,” he said.
“Apart from that, there are witnesses for the prosecution who have passed away, suffered serious medical ailments or are not in Malaysia any more,” Idrus (below) added.
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https://www.malaysiakini.com/news/529484
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