The police today said remarks by former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad against Datuk Seri Najib Razak over issues related to the murder of Mongolian model Altantuya Shaariibuu and 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) were not seditious.
Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar in the Star Online report today said because Dr Mahathir was not the only person raising and talking about those issues.
“Tun Dr Mahathir isn’t the only person to raise this issue. Many have before him.”
When asked if the statements could be deemed seditious, Khalid said: “To me, it isn’t.”
In the same report, Khalid refuted Dr Mahathir’s statement published on his blog, alleging that no investigations were carried out on the claims made by former police commando Sirul Azhar Umar over Altantuya’s murder.
“Maybe Tun Dr Mahathir does not know about the actions we have taken, and the investigations that we have carried out.” he told Star Online.
Khalid added that the police have met Sirul in Australia and concluded that there were no issues that needed further investigations.
Dr Mahathir, in his recent blog article yesterday, had said that Malaysians did not trust Najib and Barisan Nasional would lose the next general election if the prime minister remained in power.
In his blog post, he highlighted various allegations made against Najib and wrote that none of them had been adequately answered.
This included the murder of Altantuya and the claims made by Sirul, who had been one of Najib’s bodyguards.
On Sirul’s claim that he had been “under orders” to kill Altantuya, Dr Mahathir said such an allegation ought to be investigated because Sirul had worked for Najib.
“This is a human life. It would be cruel if Sirul was subjected to the death penalty for carrying out instructions,” he wrote.
Dr Mahathir also delved into the problems surrounding Finance Ministry-owned 1MDB, questioned the source of funds for Najib’s stepson Riza Aziz to purchase luxury properties in New York from businessman Low Taek Jho, and called the government’s recent purchase of a new private jet for Najib a “waste”. – April 3, 2015.
– See more at: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/dr-ms-remarks-on-altantuya-murder-1mdb-not-seditious-says-top-cop#sthash.5RfCkhAn.dpuf