An emergency motion was filed today to compel the prime minister to request the Agong to set up a tribunal to investigate accusations against Attorney-General Abdul Gani Patail and former inspector-general of police Musa Hassan.

R Sivarasa (PKR-Subang) argued in his motion that allegations that the powerful pair had abused their powers by framing police officers who were investigating an underworld figure are "serious".

The motion was filed under Standing Orders 18(1) and 18(2), which are for the discussion of matters of public importance that are of an urgent and specific nature.

Malaysiakini

had reported on Sunday that, in 2006, deputy home minister Johari Baharom had bypassed police chief Musa Hassan and instructed the Commercial Crimes Investigation Department head Ramli Yusuff to investigate Johor-based money underworld figure Goh Cheng Poh.

musa hassan pc 021107 think According to Ramli, his investigations revealed that Musa was in cahoots with Goh and had assisted in covering up the illegal gambling and money laundering business of Goh, who is also known as ‘Tengku Goh'.

Gani was accused instructing the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA, as it was in 2007) to access highly-confidential files on the case and is alleged to have ordered its officers to hunt down the informants in the Goh case and coerce them into changing their statements to implicate the CCID team investigating the case.

"If the allegations are proven, Abdul Gani has committed several crimes, including conspiring the crime, conspiring with criminals and falsifying statements," said Sivarasa.

"At this stage, there is no certainty whether the allegations are true or false. However it cannot be denied that there is credible evidence to support the claims," he said in calling for the tribunal to be established under Article 125(3) of the constitution.

Meanwhile, the Agong has consented to the much-opposed Peaceful Assembly Act, paving the way for it to be gazetted as law.

The legislation replaces Section 27 of the Police Act, which was repealed last year to encourage freedom of expression as enshrined in Article 10 of the constitution.

The Act was tabled last November and hurriedly passed by the Dewan Negara, despite protests from legislators, lawyers, civil society and members of the public.

One criticism of the law is that it prohibits street protests.

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