By Shannon Teoh
KUALA LUMPUR, March 26 — PKR questioned today if police were “rushing to the defence” of a Barisan Nasional (BN) leader again after the force cleared Datuk Seri Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz’s son of allegedly assaulting a security guard just four days after the incident.
Brickfields district police chief ACP Wan Abdul Bari Wan Abdul Khalid said on Saturday the incident was “a clear cut case” that only involved the security personnel and the bodyguard of Nazri’s son, Mohamad Nedim.
But PKR vice president N. Surendran said in a statement today that Wan Abdul’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 said Wan Abdul’s statement mirrored that of Deputy Inspector-General of Police Datuk Khalid Bakar’s in December when the latter said no wrongdoing had been found in the police probe of the National Feedlot Corporation (NFCorp).
But the company’s chairman, Datuk Seri Mohamad Salleh Ismail, who is the husband of Cabinet minister Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil, was this month charged with criminal breach of trust and offences under the Companies Act relating to RM49 million in public funds meant for a national cattle farming scheme.
“It has become standard practice for the police to rush to the defence of BN leaders or their relatives who are suspected of crimes. This pro-BN conduct of the police leadership has resulted in massive public loss of confidence in the police force,” Surendran said.
He also called on the police to form a special investigation team to further probe “this assault case involving a top minister’s son.”
Several online news portals had reported the allegation against Nedim, with opposition leaders calling on the police to investigate the matter impartially.
The incident allegedly occurred at a plush condominium at Mont Kiara on Tuesday night.
But Wan Abdul said on Saturday “I do not know why and how another person (Nedim) was dragged into this.”
This is the second time the son of the minister in the Prime Minister’s Department was alleged to be involved in a violent crime.
In 2004, Nedim was accused of being party to the death of Darren Kang, a student who was studying law in the United Kingdom, who was killed in Sri Hartamas.
De facto law minister Nazri had then admitted 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.
