Thursday, December 17, 2009

MACC Can Question Witnesses Beyond Operating Hours

PUTRAJAYA: The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission can now interrogate witnesses beyond their office hours, the Court of Appeal ruled today.

The Court of Appeal made this ruling after hearing an MACC appeal over a High Court landmark ruling that its interrogation sessions must be conducted during office hours, from 8.30am to 5.30pm.

Court of Appeal judges Hasan Lah, Ahmad Maarop and Syed Ahmad Helmy Syed Ahmad heard submissions from senior federal counsel Amarjeet Singh, for the MACC, and counsel Karpal Singh, for Kajang municipal councillor Tan Boon Wah.

The High Court ruling prevented the MACC from interrogating witnesses after office hours, contrary to its practice all this while.

Following the ruling, MACC investigation division director Shukri Abdull had on Nov 25 issued a directive to all MACC offices to confine the questioning of witnesses to the working hours of 8.30am to 5.30pm.

On Nov 19, High Court Judge Mohammad Ariff Md Yusof, in allowing a judicial review filed by Tan, ruled that Section 30(3)(a) of the MACC Act 2009 does not empower the MACC to investigate a witness "round-the-clock".

Tan, 39, is suing (then) MACC chief commissionerAhmad Said Hamdan, MACC assistant superintendent Mohammad Hassan Zulkifli and the MACC, claiming that his detention and questioning for 16 hours overnight by the MACC was unlawful, which resulted in him suffering losses and damage.

(source: Bernama)

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

MORE INTERKOREK AT LATE NIGHT MEANS MORE DEATH OCCUR AND MORE SODOMY HAPPEN.ESPECIALLY THE HEAD IS THE FARTHER OF THE PORNO KING.FOR THE GOODNESS OF MANKIND FOLLOW HONG KONG RULES OR ENGAGE HONG KONG EXPERTISE.BECAUSE NO ONE TRUST MACC ANYMORE THEY ARE JUST THE DOG OF UMNO AND BN-BARISAN NERAKA,BARISAN NONOK,BARISAN NAJIS.MALAYSIA BOLEH WITH THE COURT OF APPEAL LEADING THE JUDGES.

Anonymous said...

Most Malaysians now are not interested and not surprised with any outcome these days.

It all works like a family affair and someone will take care of one another and the likes of my boss ,my buddy , my aunty , uncle , brother , nephew , wife ,relatives bla, bla bla ..

Simple answer- not happy , you leave lah.

Anonymous said...

any idea or info how much OT wages/allowances being claimed by their staff ALL these years = juta !

Anonymous said...

Puan,

A courts' decision cannot be argued but it is very confusing when the verdict comes from learned judges of the same profession. Only different courts.

selampit said...

I don't get it, really. Why the pressing necessity to conduct interrogation after office hours?

What a body like MACC really needs I believe, are high-tech surveillance equipments, state-of-the-art bugging devices, expertise in the fields of industrial espionage, data encryption and supercomputing.

Tools and trainings necessary to obtain and gather valuable data from open and closed environments/systems.

MACC also needs to improve areas that concern witness security and protection. Encourage potential whistle-blowers to come forward and cooperate willingly instead of relying on the entrapment modus operandi.

Sure, MACC would gain much benefit from the unlimited interrogation hours, but this will eventually project a draconian image of the body in the minds of the public.

The public needs to see MACC as a body that serves to protect the interests of the people and not something that scare the sh*t out of them.

Just my two cents...