KUALA LUMPUR – Police have categorised the report lodged by an anti-graft officer in Sentul against whistle-blower Lalitha Kunaratnam on February 9 as “no further action” (NFA).
Online portal Malaysiakini reported that Bukit Aman’s Criminal Investigation Department director Abdul Jalil Hassan has confirmed that the report accusing the investigative journalist of lying to the court had nothing to do with the Classified Criminal Investigations Unit (CCIU) case.
“The report has been categorised as NFA because it has nothing to do with the case being investigated by the CCIU,” Jalil reportedly said.
Lalitha was sued by Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) chief commissioner Tan Sri Azam Baki for her exposé on his alleged share ownership in public listed companies.
It was understood that in her defence submission, she also explained that she works as a researcher at the Centre to Combat Corruption and Cronyism (C4).
The officer lodged the report based on a statement by C4, where the NGO announced that Lalitha had left the organisation in December 2020.
Meanwhile, Lalitha’s lawyer, Manjeet Singh Dhillon, had said yesterday that the MACC could be seen to be in contempt of court over the police report, seeing that the issue is part of the civil court case being heard between his client and Azam.
The MACC chief had sued Lalitha over her two articles titled: Business Ties Among MACC Leadership: How Deep Does It Go? (Part 1) and Business Ties Among MACC Leadership: How Deep Does It Go? (Part Two).
The stories were published by Independent News Service late last year.
Lalitha has reportedly said that she is ready to take on the suit. – The Vibes, February 12, 2022
