KUALA LUMPUR: A police report has been lodged to clear the name of Opposition leader Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin after he was implicated in a corruption charge.
Hamzah’s private secretary Ahmad Ikhwan Fadhli said the report was also lodged to urge the police to investigate parties who allegedly influenced government agencies to purportedly tarnish Hamzah’s reputation.
“His name was wrongly included in the corruption charge to make it seem he was involved in the offence.
“He did not even know about the projects mentioned in the corruption charge,” he told reporters after lodging a report at the Dang Wangi police headquarters here yesterday.
Ahmad Ikhwan urged the police to get to the bottom of the matter so that government agencies such as the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) are not influenced by certain parties.
“We hope a proper investigation will clear Hamzah’s name,” he said.
Bersatu Youth (Armada) chief Wan Ahmad Fayhsal Wan Ahmad Kamal, who was also present, claimed that implicating Hamzah was a form of character assassination.
“This is the first of many other police reports that will be lodged nationwide.
“We hope the police will take necessary action on the matter,” he said.
In a Facebook post on Wednesday following the four corruption charges against businessman Datuk Seri Sim Choo Thiam, the former Home Minister said it was strange that his name was mentioned then.
“Going through all four charges it is stated that the bribe was to ‘obtain any projects belonging to agencies under the Home Ministry’. So what project, which is now a corruption matter, was it referring to?” he said, adding that it was clear that this was done to purposely drag his name into matters that did not involve him.
“This is a series of slander to pressure certain businessmen in order to point the finger at me and to sully my name,” he said.
Hamzah also said it was peculiar that his statement was only recorded by MACC from 4.30pm and 7pm on Wednesday, which was after Sim had been brought to court.
“This allegation is clearly made to sully my good name, Bersatu and Perikatan Nasional. More so when the Deputy Prime Minister/Umno president himself had spoken openly about creating a court cluster from the leaders of Bersatu and Perikatan Nasional.
“I believe that they are worried about the strength of Perikatan Nasional, which (with) the support of the people, will be apparent again during the six state elections that will be held soon.
“I am made to believe that there are certain parties that are panicking as their position is currently shaky, but do not let that lead the public to feel that MACC is being used by certain leaders,” he said.
On Wednesday, Sim pleaded not guilty to charges of receiving and soliciting RM15mil from another businessman.