KUALA LUMPUR, May 9 — The decision to investigate the controversy over Lembaga Tabung Haji’s (LTH) land buy under the Official Secrets Act (OSA) will discourage those with information on the deal from coming forward, DAP MP Gobind Singh Deo said.
The Puchong MP said the police should probe the deal for any element of impropriety instead of investigating the individuals who exposed the controversy.
“This is quite ridiculous. It sends out the wrong signal and suppresses efforts to rope in members of the public to assist in investigations,” he said in a statement here.
“If information has come forth of any matter which requires further investigation in the 1MDB-TH land deal, the police should probe that information and not the informer instead,” he added.
Noting that Putrajaya has already come under fire over its handling of allegations surrounding 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), the state-owned firm that LTH had purchased the land from, Gobind said any matter involving the troubled company should be handled transparently.
“It (Putrajaya) must stop behaving like an ostrich and pull its head out of the sand and deal with problems staring it in the eyes which urgently need to be addressed,” he said.
Earlier this week, reports of LTH’s controversial land investment hit media headlines after it was revealed that it paid 1MDB RM188.5 million for 1.56 acres of land in the Tun Razak Exchange (TRX) that the latter firm had purchased four years ago for just RM4.5 million at a rate of RM64 psf.
A blog called “The Benchmark” first drew attention to the purchase when it published purported documents of the controversial transaction that critics now claim could be a bailout for 1MDB.
Yesterday, Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar announced that the police would investigate those who exposed 1MDB’s land sale under the OSA.
- See more at: http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/probing-tabung-haji-land-deal-under-osa-will-discourage-whistleblowers-cops?utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed#sthash.WTDSA769.dpufOfficial Secrets Act
http://www.agc.gov.my/Akta/Vol.%202/Act%2088.pdf
Bestfbkl= How does OSA come in play here when GLC's are involved and not a Government Agency???
The act defines an "official secret" as:
| “ | ...any document specified in the Schedule and any information and material relating thereto and includes any other official document, information and material as may be classified as 'Top Secret', 'Secret', 'Confidential' or 'Restricted', as the case may be, by a Minister, the Menteri Besar or Chief Minister of a State or such public officer | ” |
The Schedule to the Act covers "Cabinet documents, records of decisions and deliberations including those of Cabinet committees", as well as similar documents for state executive councils. It also includes "documents concerning national security, defence and international relations".
