POLICE have classified as “no further action” (NFA) a report against Lalitha Kunaratnam for allegedly lying to the court.

The report is not related to the case involving the investigative journalist, who is currently under federal investigation, said Bukit Aman Criminal Investigation Department director Abdul Jalil Hassan.

The recent report against the whistle-blower was lodged at Sentul police station on February 9.

Lalitha, who exposed Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) chief Azam Baki’s share purchases, was accused of making a false claim concerning her status as a researcher with the Centre to Combat Corruption and Cronyism (C4).

The report alleged that she had lied when she wrote this claim in her statement of defence in response to a defamation suit against her filed by the chief commissioner.

Lalitha is being sued over articles she wrote on Azam’s corporate shares ownership and business links via family members.

C4 said Lalitha was no longer its employee since December 2020 and had been carrying out her work as an independent journalist and consultant.

Lalitha’s statement of defence in response to Azam’s suit was made on February 3.

Azam initiated legal proceedings early last month, amid pressure to come clean or step down following his corporate shares ownership exposé.

Lalitha is being investigated under the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 and penal code for publishing statements “conducing to public mischief”.

Her two-part article titled “Business Ties Among MACC Leadership: How Deep Does It Go?” about Azam was published online last year.

Former MACC panel member Edmund Terence Gomez used the contents of the article to push his superiors to take action against Azam, in an attempt to safeguard the integrity of the anti-graft agency.

Azam, in a press conference on January 5, denied any wrongdoing, saying that his trading account was used by his brother to purchase shares in two public-listed companies in 2015 and 2016. Azam was MACC investigations director at the time.

A Securities Commission investigation found that Azam had full control of his trading account – effectively clearing him of any wrongdoing from a legal standpoint.

Civil society and the opposition have continued to call for the chief commissioner to resign, as he is seen to have lied to the public about his brother’s use of his trading account. – February 11, 2022.