POLICE will record Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) chief commissioner Latheefa Koya’s statement on the release of nine audio clips which allegedly showed former prime minister Najib Razak and others discussing ways to cover up information on 1Malaysia Development Bhd. 

Inspector-General of Police Abdul Hamid Bador said Latheefa’s statement is for police to determine how the the recordings were obtained and whether they are authentic.

“We will call her to have her statement recorded. We want to know how MACC obtained the clips, who gave it and if they are authentic,” he told a press conference today.

Hamid confirmed police have received all nine recordings.

“We have all of them. It will take us some time to probe this matter.”

Last Wednesday, MACC released the nine audio clips by playing them at a media conference. 

Latheefa told the press then that MACC was given the audio recordings after the new year but would not reveal who had given them to the commission.

The recordings were purportedly of conversations involving Najib, his wife Rosmah Mansor, former MACC chief commissioner Dzulkifli Ahmad, former Tabung Haji chairman Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim, Najib’s former private secretary Shukry Salleh, his former special officer Amhari Efendi Nazaruddin, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Mohammed Zayed Al Nahyan and Mubadala Development Company CEO Khaldoon Mubarak.

MACC said the recordings showed abuse of power, conspiracy, fabrication of false evidence and the leaking of state secrets.

But the anti-graft agency came under fire from some lawyers, including Mohamed Haniff Kathri Abdulla, DAP legal bureau chief Ramkarpal Singh and Sangeet Kaur Deo.

The legality of the recordings’ release to the public first instead of the police for investigations, their admissibility in court and right to privacy issues have also been debated by Malaysians.

Some pundits hold the view that MACC was right to have released the clips, in line with the public’s interest and transparency over the national issues discussed in the recordings by public officials. – January 13, 2020.