By Clara Chooi
KUALA LUMPUR, March 27 — Umno minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Aziz has refused to respond to allegations linking his son Mohamad Nedim to an assault case last week, saying the latter is an adult and could handle his own affairs.
“I cannot be responsible for his actions. It has nothing to do with me,” Nazri told The Malaysian Insider when approached in Parliament yesterday.
The federal minister also pointed out that several police reports have already been lodged on the March 20 incident and the police were already investigating it.
As such, Nazri (picture) said it would be inappropriate for him to issue any comment on the ongoing case.
“I can’t even comment. If I start to comment, that might prejudice the situation because there is already a police report,” he said.
Several online news portals reported last week an allegation that Mohamad Nedim had assaulted a security supervisor at a plush condominium in Mont Kiara here on Tuesday night.
Citing an unnamed source, one news portal said the condominium management was under pressure to cover up the incident, although the alleged assault was captured on CCTV, as security firms depend on the federal government to renew their licence.
PKR alleged the same yesterday, asking if the police were “rushing to the defence” of a Barisan Nasional (BN) leader again after clearing Mohamad Nedim of the assault allegation just four days after the incident.
Brickfields district police chief ACP Wan Abdul Bari Wan Abdul Khalid had said on Saturday it was “a clear-cut case” that only involved the security guard and Mohamad Nedim’s bodyguard.
“I do not know why and how another person (Mohamad Nedim) was dragged into this,” he added.
But PKR vice-president N. Surendran said in a statement yesterday that Wan Abdul Bari’s statement, coming just four days after the alleged assault on the night of March 20, was “suspicious and disturbing.”
“Are the police trying to protect Umno and the government’s reputation? The public is entitled to a thorough and impartial investigation into this incident.
“It has also been reported that there are CCTV recordings of the entire incident. What do the CCTV tapes reveal?” the lawyer said.
He also called on the police to form a special investigation team to further investigate “this assault case involving a top minister’s son.”
This is the second time the son of the minister in the Prime Minister’s Department has been alleged to be involved in a violent crime.
In 2004, Mohamad Nedim was accused of being involved in the death of Darren Kang, a student who was studying law in the United Kingdom, who was killed in Sri Hartamas here.
At the time, Nazri had admitted that his son was in the area but insisted he had nothing to do with the crime, in which five Thai foodstall workers eventually pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of manslaughter.