Hamid distances himself from article statements

PETALING JAYA: The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission’s (MACC) Operations Review Panel chairman Tan Sri Hamid Bugo has distanced himself from an article which claimed that there was enough proof to charge Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak over SRC International.

In an article in The Malaysian Insider, an anonymous panel member was cited as ma­king “various statements attributed to the panel”.

“We wish to state that no anonymous source is authorised to speak for and on behalf of the panel under any circumstances.

“In any event, we hereby expressly disassociate ourselves from all such statements,” said the statement signed by Hamid and another panel member Tan Sri Mohamed Jawhar Hassan.

Hamid denied that the panel had at any time said that it had “enough proof to charge Najib over SRC” as claimed by the article or that “there is credible evidence to frame charges” against him.

“The panel did not conclude that the MACC investigators had collected sufficient evidence to prove a prima facie case against Najib,” he said.

The panel of the anti-graft body was set up under the MACC Act 2009.

Meanwhile, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) has confirmed that it has blocked The Malaysian Insider, for violating the Communication and Multimedia Act 1998.

“The restriction was done by the MCMC based on several complaints received from the public,” it said in a statement yesterday.