KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 29 ― Interpol has turned down Malaysia’s request to place Sarawak Report editor Clare Rewcastle-Brown on its wanted list.
Interpol has also informed its 190 member countries of its decision and requested them to remove any data about Rewcastle-Brown from their national databases, Interpol secretary-general Jurgen Stock said in an August 27 letter to Jago Russell, chief executive of London-based NGO Fair Trials International.
London-based whistleblower site Sarawak Report (SR) published the letter yesterday, which an Interpol spokesman confirmed with Malay Mail Online to be genuine.
“In line with our standard operating procedure a review was conducted and on 9 August the request for the Red Notice was refused,” Stock said in the letter to Russell.
“All 190 member countries were informed of the decision and advised not to use INTERPOL’s channels in this matter and also requested to remove any data from their national databases,” added the official with the world’s largest international police organisation.
The police said on August 4 that an arrest warrant has been obtained for Rewcastle-Brown, whose whistleblower site SR has been publishing exposés on the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) controversy.
CID director Comm Datuk Seri Mohmad Salleh said the warrant, granted by a court here, is for offences under Sections 124B and 124I of the Penal Code.
He added that the police was also seeking to place Rewcastle-Brown on the wanted list of Aseanapol, a police group in the Asean region, and on the Interpol red notice.
Section 124B, which covers activities detrimental to parliamentary democracy, stipulates that those convicted under the law will be liable to a maximum prison term of 20 years.
Section 124I, on the other hand, states that “any person who, by word of mouth or in writing or in any newspaper, periodical, book, circular, or other printed publication or by any other means including electronic means spreads false reports or makes false statements likely to cause public alarm, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to five years.”
Briton Rewcastle-Brown has been accused of colluding with several opposition lawmakers here in a conspiracy to unseat Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak by using the controversy surrounding the debt-laden state investment firm 1MDB
PDRM again embarrass the country with such trivial matters. Really are there no hard core criminals to go after? Should they pander to the wishes of the ruling elite? The offended parties should sue Clare Rewcastle-Brown for defamation and libel and not get the POLICE involved! Such a waste of taxpayers' money.
No comments:
Post a Comment