File picture shows Centre to Combat Corruption and Cronyism researcher Lalitha Kunaratnam at the MACC office in Putrajaya July 24, 2019. — Picture courtesy of N Sylvester
KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 11 — The police report lodged by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) against activist Lalitha Kunaratnam for allegedly lying in court has been marked as no further action (NFA) by Bukit Aman.
The matter was confirmed by Bukit Aman Criminal Investigation Department (CID) director Datuk Seri Abdul Jalil Hassan, who told Free Malaysia Today (FMT) that the report has no relation to the case that is being built by the police.
“For your information, the report that was lodged at Sentul (police station) by the complainant has been marked as NFA because it is not related to the case investigated by Bukit Aman’s classified criminal investigation unit,” he told FMT.
A police report was lodged yesterday against Lalitha by the MACC, who wrote about MACC chief commissioner Azam Baki’s alleged share acquisition in two public-listed companies, for allegedly lying to the court.
It was reported that an anonymous source told FMT that the complaint — lodged at the Sentul district police station — was over her alleged false employment status with anti-graft NGO, the Centre to Combat Corruption and Cronyism (C4).
She was alleged to have made the claim in her statement of defence on February 3, in response to a defamation lawsuit filed by Azam.
Lalitha’s lawyer, Manjeet Singh Dhillon, called the report “bordering on the absurd”, and that it could be found in contempt of court as the matter is still part of an ongoing civil court action.
Azam last month filed a lawsuit against Lalitha over her article titled “Business Ties Among MACC Leadership: How Deep Does It Go?”, demanding a public apology and RM10 million from the activist, for alleged defamation over her reports.
The Securities Commission (SC) Malaysia concluded that Azam had full control of his trading account despite telling the public it was used by his brother, Nasir Baki, days before that, and cleared him of any wrongdoing.
The SC had launched the investigation after Azam previously publicly declared in a press conference that his share trading account was used by his brother to buy shares – a move widely perceived as proxy trading by the public.