I REFER to news reports citing the police as saying it will record statements from Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim over a purported leaked audio of their conversation.
This is mind-blowing to me, as well as to many netizens and lawyers.
Of late, the police and the present powers that be have resorted to desperate new lows in their quest to disparage and bully Anwar. In this new era of media technology, it is very easy to superimpose pictures and, what more, make voice overs.
Thus being the fact, it is shocking that the inspector-general of police (IGP) wants to “record” Anwar’s statement. Is he acting on his own or is he under instructions? Is the IGP of experience unaware of the provisions of the law on commencing police investigations? There is only one and only one provision, as provided in Section 110 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC), which empowers the IGP to invoke his powers to commence a criminal investigation upon a police report that discloses a “seizable offence”.
(For simplicity, a seizable offence is generally a serious offence where there is no requirement to have a warrant to effect an arrest. Theft and robbery are among the examples).
A full list is in the CPC. Other statutes may also describe whether the offences therein are seizable or not.
Only when a police report discloses a seizable offence will Section 110 of the CPC empower or lawfully authorise the police to activate their powers of police investigations to, inter alia:
- issue an order under Section 111 of the CPC in writing to request a witness to appear at a police station;
- record a statement under Section 112 of the CPC; and,
- conduct searches on premises and arrest individuals without a warrant.
Ironically, in the present case, how does a mere purported casual telephone conversation, authenticated or not, with no relation to a crime, fall within the meaning and classification of a seizable offence?
It is clear as daylight that the purported telephone conversation does not even disclose an offence, more so a seizable offence at that.
Can the IGP explain to the public as to how he is empowered to exercise his powers to record Anwar’s statement under Section 112 of the CPC?
This report by the IGP per se, is tantamount to an abuse and a serious breach of the CPC, and may also be an offence under the Penal Code.
The legal citation in the seminal English case of Blackburn by Lord Denning is most pertinent here: “The chief constable is answerable to the law and to the law alone.”
Hence, it is imperative that the IGP recognise his legal duty and respect the law and to also act independently of any powers that be. If a mere casual telephone conversation, fake or otherwise, is an offence, then everyone in Malaysia and in the world would have committed an offence. – The Vibes, April 11, 2021
Datuk Sankara Nair is a lawyer
