MACC witness says Rosli's arrest was not to 'remove' him

KUALA LUMPUR: A witness from the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) denied that lawyer Rosli Dahlan was arrested in order to “remove” him, from acting for former Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) director, Datuk Ramli Yusuff.
Datuk Azam Baki, 52, who is currently the director of MACC’s Intelligence Department, was asked by Rosli’s lawyer, Chetan Jethwani, whether he was aware that Ramli’s affidavit in another case was prepared by Rosli.
Azam answered that he did not know.
Q: Do you know Rosli is Ramli’s lawyer?
A: I don’t know.
Q: The intention of the order of arrest was to remove Rosli from acting for Ramli?
A: I don’t agree.
During the questioning, Chetan also said that the purpose of the arrest was to spoil Rosli’s good name but Azam disagreed.
Rosli had filed a civil suit against 12 defendants, who are mostly MACC officers involved in his arrest, which was made on Oct 11, 2007.
He also named MACC chief commissioner Tan Sri Abu Kassim Mohamed, deputy public prosecutor Anthony Kevin Morais and the Government, among others.
Rosli filed the suit on Sept 16, 2009 for defamation, conspiracy to injure, wrongful arrest, wrongful detention and assault.
In October 2007, officers from MACC, which was then known as the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA), had arrested and charged Rosli with failing to comply with a notice to disclose full information of his assets.
He was acquitted of the charge.
Ramli was also acquitted of several charges, among others, failure to declare ownership of company shares.
In the witness statement, Azam said he ordered Assistant Supt Rosli Isa to arrest Rosli.
However, at about 11am, Rosli Isa reported that Rosli refused to surrender.
Subsequently, he ordered three other officers to arrest Rosli in his office.
Azam said when he and another officer reached Rosli’s office, he found that the situation was not in control and Rosli was behaving aggressively against two of his officers.
He said Rosli refused to co-operate with his officers and used abusive words.
He said when he saw the situation, he told Rosli to calm down but Rosli refused. He said Rosli, who was handcuffed was “bergelut dan meronta-ronta” (struggling).
Chetan also questioned the manner of Rosli’s arrest.
He asked whether Azam and another officer pushed open the door after it was opened by a woman but he denied.
Chetan asked if Azam was screaming “where is Rosli” once he entered the office premises but he disagreed.
He also disagreed with Chetan, when he suggested that the staff who opened the door told them to wait at the meeting room until she called Rosli.
Azam also denied that he shouted that “catch him and handcuff him” and denied creating the entire testimony after hearing the testimonies of other witnesses in the same case.
When lawyer Rishwant Singh, who also represented Azam, asked when the witness statement was prepared, Azam said his witness statement was prepared before the case began.
He also said Rosli did not want to surrender to be arrested.