KUALA LUMPUR: A police report lodged by a Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) officer in the midst of Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin's Jana Wibawa corruption trial has prompted his defence team to apply to hold the complainant over contempt of court.
Lawyer Datuk Amer Hamzah Arshad made the application before Justice Noor Ruwena Md Nurdin during the hearing at the High Court here on Tuesday.
The application stemmed from the police report which named Amer Hamzah, seeking police to investigate the source of a purported "leaked confidential document".
The complainant in the report, which was lodged in Putrajaya yesterday, stated that Amer Hamzah had revealed a classified document involving businessman and witness Adam Radlan Adam Muhammad during the trial on Monday (Sept 14).
The document was referred to during cross-examination of an investigating officer in Muhyiddin's case, Mazery Mohd Zaini.
At the outset of today's proceedings, Amer Hamzah said the police report was an "act of intimidation" and an attempt to smear his reputation as a lawyer by the MACC.
He said that the document he had referred to in court was not obtained "illegally" but rather, it was obtained lawfully in accordance to Section 51A of the Criminal Procedure Code.
"The defence is looking seriously at this and do not rule out the possibility to begin a contempt of court proceedings and to lodge a police report against those involved," Amer Hamzah said.
He added that the officer should have conducted his own internal investigation or asked the defence before lodging a police report.
"The report they lodged against me by naming me personally is a declaration of war," Amer Hamzah said.
Mazery, who was on the witness stand, then apologised publicly before the court.
He said that the police report was lodged to protect the integrity and image of his department as there was suspicion of internal information leak.
"I would like to apologise to the lawyers especially Datuk Amer over the report. Actually, I am concerned that there is an information leak within the MACC officers.
"The report was done to see whether there is a leak or otherwise. There was never an intention to tarnish the lawyer's image. If there is no leak between the officer, (we) will withdraw the report," Mazery said.
Earlier, deputy public prosecutor Datuk Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin also apologised to the defence and called the witness to explain the situation.
Justice Noor Ruwena adjourned the proceedings for parties to reconvene in the afternoon.
