Retired investigating officer Jude Pereira.
PETALING JAYA: The retired investigating officer in Opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s sodomy case, Jude Pereira, claims he was asked by Malaysian Crime Watch Task Force (MyWatch) chairman R. Sri Sanjeevan to subvert the trial on behalf of Anwar, an online portal reported Friday.
In an interview with Raggie Jessy in Malaysia Today, Pereira claimed that he had received a call from Sanjeevan about a week before the 13th general election asking to meet up.
When met at KL Hilton, Sanjeevan allegedly tried to persuade Pereira to release a press statement claiming that there was a conspiracy and Government interference in Pereira’s investigations.
However, Pereira was said to have refused to release the statement as his investigations showed no conspiracy or Governmental interference. Pereira had also claimed to have spoken to Anwar via telephone regarding the issue.
“He (Sanjeevan) then gave the phone to me, requesting that I talk to DSAI (Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim). I just wished DSAI well for the elections and told him that I was not able to say what Sanjeevan had wanted me to say, but that I would just mention that I respected the court’s decision in his (DSAI’s) case. DSAI replied that it was all right and good enough for me to say just that,” the portal quoted Pereira as saying.
Pereira claimed that Sanjeevan had given him a press statement via two unnamed individuals later that day at a hotel in KL Sentral to look over. The portal reported Sanjeevan promising that Pereira would be “taken care of should PKR win (GE13)” if the latter agreed to release the statement.
“I was completely shocked after reading a passage of about 100 words, which said that I was the investigation officer and that DSAI was innocent and was charged unreasonably, with evidence fabricated against him. The passage made me look like a fool and would have thrown my integrity down the drain after all my hard work. I refused to subscribe to their request and just walked away from the hotel.”
The article also claimed that former Inspector General of Police (IGP) Tan Sri Musa Hassan was aware of the meeting between Pereira and Sanjeevan. It also reported that Musa had met Pereira before the meeting with Sanjeevan, and had asked Pereira if there was a conspiracy in the case against the Opposition Leader. Musa had further informed Pereira about Sanjeevan’s close ties with Anwar.
The article further claimed that Anwar had attempted to “be friends” with Musa, who is also former patron of MyWatch.
“Later on that same day, TS Musa texted me and asked me how my meeting (with Sanjeevan) went. When I told him what had happened, he texted me in reply saying that I did the right thing in safeguarding my integrity,” Jude said.
In response to the accusation, Sanjeevan posted a tweet on Friday rubbishing Pereira’s claims.
“Jude Pereira was found as not a credible witness by TS Shafee Abdullah himself so obviously I’m NOT going to comment on his allegations,” he wrote.
Pereira was the investigating officer in Anwar’s sodomy case.
He filed his petition for admission to be a lawyer on July 23, 2012, however, it was dismissed on Jan 15, 2014.
The court allowed an objection by the Bar Council which called for the refusal of a petition by Pereira to be admitted as an advocate and solicitor of the High Court of Malaya.
Justice Zaleha Yusof found the conduct of Pereira with regard to the arrest and detention of five KL Legal Aid Centre lawyers in 2009 showed that he was not of good character.
He was also found to have given a false statement in court proceedings which factored into his rejection from the Bar.
However, Pereira received the green light from the Ipoh High Court to be a lawyer in December 2014 under the provision that the retired police superintendent undergo eight hours of human rights training with the Bar Council.
Justice Lee Swee Seng said the training was a time of effective rehabilitation for the petitioner.
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