Emotional 'revelations' could prejudice investigations, say legal men

KUALA LUMPUR: Authorities involved in the 1MDB investigations should make lesser public statements so as to not prejudice investigations, said former attorney general Tan Sri Abu Talib Othman (pic).

Abu Talib, who leads the investigative committee on 1MDB, said this when asked about his thoughts on MACC chief commissioner Datuk Seri Shukri Abdull’s tell-all press conference on Tuesday.

“In my personal opinion, the lesser public statements made, the better because then it may prejudice investigations and court proceedings, should there be any.

“It should be less talk more work,” he told reporters when met outside Menara Ilham here on Wednesday.

Some senior lawyers are also expressing their disapproval over Shukri's emotional account of his flight to the United States.

Lawyer and Bukit Gelugor MP Ramkarpal Singh said that Shukri "ought to know better" than to publicly claim that he was threatened and harassed while he was investigating the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) scandal in 2015.

"While I sympathise with his plight, Shukri must be aware that such public statements can jeopardise the current investigations into 1MDB which he now helms," said Ramkarpal in a statement on Wednesday.

"It may be suggested that his impartiality has been compromised as his investigations now may be related to the harassment he claimed to have experienced in the past," he said.

Ramkarpal urged Shukri to stop such "public outbursts" and to lodge the necessary police reports pertaining to his complaints. 

"The current investigations into the 1MDB scandal by the MACC cannot be seen to be tainted in any way as the suspects thereto have every right to be fairly investigated and must not be deprived of such right," he said. 

Criminal lawyer Kitson Foong also said that Shukri's public statements would likely open an avenue for clear and credible challenges to be mounted on MACC and the chief commissioner's credibility in the court of law.

He added that a defense counsel could also raise a challenge to question whether MACC and Shukri have acted impartially.

"Whilst we may all empathise with the tremendous personal hardship experienced by the chief commissioner, I'm of the opinion that it was highly unprofessional and inappropriate for him to express in a press conference details of alleged conversations and matters shared in confidence.

"Perhaps the best way forward is for the chief commissioner to air any grievances he may have as to how he and or his then investigating team were previously treated, to and through internal channels with corresponding actions taken accordingly," Foong added.