Presumed "Guilty"

In the movie, Presumed Innocent, Deputy Prosecutor, "Rusty" Sabich (played by Harrison Ford) was chosen to lead the investigation into the rape and murder of a female colleague, Carolyn Polhemus (played by Greta Scacchi).

As Rusty digs deeply into the case, he found Carolyn and the newly elected District Attorney, Nico Della Guardia were linked involved to a bribe to throw out a case. There is politics involved as Nico avoid from being the shortest serving District Attorney.

The legal drama could be titled as Presumed "Guilty" because Rusty had an affair with Carolyn and this led Nico to frame him for the murder. It ends with a court room cliff hanging escape for Rusty. [Watch it online here].

In the real life legal drama, Malaysian version of Harrison Ford, Attorney General, Tan Sri Apandi Ali is being presumed guilty by former Prime Minister, Tun Dr Mahathir. There is also political motivation but a different Nico character.

The scenes are still unfolding but still not the end yet.

Apandi responded by accusing Tun M of playing reverse psychology. It was intended as pressure to follow MACC's recommendation and make cases out of it. Tun M's remark appear as though the investigation paper leaked to him and like in the 1MDB issue, he seemed to make his own conclusion.

Apandi has put it on record to state to the press that he will act without fear or favour and in accordance with the law. He will not be pressured by such political game.

At stake is the good name of the office as it is not AG alone to decide. Other lawyers will be involved to study the 3 investigation papers submitted by MACC on the RM2.6 billion, and two other cases involving RM42 million relating to former 1MDB subsidiary, SRC International Sdn Bhd.

That leaves too much trails to do a cover-up. Tun M used to say conspiracy cannot involve many people. It is unthinkable to do so in these days of documents suddenly appearing on websites and social media. 

MACC

Many questioned why MACC need to make such statement. The submission of investigation paper by MACC, PDRM, BNM and any others bodies to AG Office is a daily affair. Rejection of investigation papers for further investigation and request for more statements and documents are part of any day's work at all these agencies.

AG is expected to request for further investigation since MACC Deputy Commissioner (Operations), Dato Shukri Abdull reportedly admitted the "RM2.6 billion probe is incomplete".

There is always the possibility of the same on the two cases recommended by MACC. AG did so on BNM investigation paper. The moment AG does the usual daily routine, the paid dogs will bark of cover-up.

Media report on the submission was on December 31st, the same day Arul announced the sale of Bandar Malaysia. It as though MACC timed the statement to divert the attention away from the good news.

That led those questioning MACC to suspect them of collaborating with Tun M to set-up Najib and provide the path for the ascension of Tan Sri Muhyiddin. In addition, Tun M made subtle threat on Deputy Prime Minister, Dato Ahmad Zahid Hamidi. 

The stuff of conspiracy theories that is difficult for the common people to disregard.

More so, Tun M's remark coincided with rumour of a change at the helm of MACC by The Edge. It makes no sense though for current SB Director, Dato Fuzi Haron to be the replacement. The man was never a crime buster!

MACC could have made the statement to dispel any suspicion of cover-up on their part. They were under such pressure following the Malay rulers' statement in October. That was the month MACC was supposed to complete investigation thus came the direction from AG to record statement from Najib before year end.

It does not jive for MACC to be in-cohoot to play politics and collaborate with Tun M. It is as though MACC expects AG to accept their recommendations. All the while, they insisted to maintain the current principle that the one doing the investigation should not be the one prosecuting cases.    

This differs from the American practise in Presumed Innocent. Tun M should know better> It is the same principle applied by ACA, which during his time was under the Prime Minister's Department.

In-cohoot 

Presumed "Guilty"?

If anyone is to be accused of being in co-hoot to presumed guilty on Najib, it should be Syed Akbar. Not because he was a former committee member in MACC, but because he has been relentless in his blog postings to support Tun M's cause to topple Najib.

In his latest blog posting, he wrote a cerita dongeng of a Bugis in a state of panic after unsuccessful meetings abroad to cut deals to save himself from prosecution. Obviously he was referring to Najib as Bugis. The posting could be reproduced in the commentary when he removes his posting.

Maybe out of fear or even guilt, OutSyed remove his postings daily. He stand a better chance to avoid lawsuit or any possible criminal prosecution by double checking his source. On this one, our source say Najib was never in Tokyo during the year-end holiday season. The last time there was in May during a near earthquake incident.  

As a friendly advise, OutSyed should know the limit to his politically motivated mind game. It is improper to question the ibadah of Allah's invited guest to the holy land. Only Allah has insight into a person's intention.