OPPOSITION GROUP ALLEGES CORRUPTION IN REPORT AGAINST NAJIB - malaysiakini

By Debra Chong

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 21 – PKR Youth leader Badrul Hisham Shaharin led a group of five people in lodging a police report today against Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak for corruption.

The group claimed they provided the police with evidence in connection with a number of deals to procure military equipment while Najib was Defence Minister.

Najib has been at the brunt of a series of allegations since he became the front-runner to succeed Datuk Seri Abdullah Badawi as Umno president and Prime Minister.

Allegations of impropriety have surfaced over the proposed acquisition of Eurocopter helicopters for RM2.3 billion and the RM4.6 billion Scorpene submarines deal.

The group which made the police report today calls itself the Sekretariat Anak Muda Malaysia (SAMM).

They claimed to have supplied police with 21-pages of evidence implicating the DPM, including documents proving the authenticity of several text messages between Najib and lawyer Datuk Shafee Abdullah.

A series of text messages, which purportedly implies the deputy prime minister had interfered in the police investigations into the murder of Mongolian Altantuya Shaariibuu in 2006, was published recently in jailed blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin's Malaysia Today website.

Shafee was then acting for Abdul Razak Baginda, Najib's close associate who was subsequently charged for abetting in the murder.

Today, SAMM demanded that police reopen the investigations on Najib's alleged involvement with the murdered victim to show whether he had abused his position and power.

"We filed the report so that the proper procedures can begin," said Badrul, the spokesman for SAMM. "Otherwise, the police will say 'without an official complaint, we cannot start official procedures'."

"We just want to help the police with their investigations. We are providing them some supplementary documents to give them a head start."

The other four, who co-lodged the report at the Dang Wangi district police station here, are Aiman Athirah Al Junaidi, the information chief for national Pas Muslimat; president of Gerak Ramlan Abu Bakar, blogger Amin Iskandar and Wan Anis Adnan. -- MI

Pic: malaysiakini