The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) has denied any mistreatment of Siti Nurul Hidayah, once aide to former youth and sports minister Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman.
MACC accused of:
- verbal abuse
- threat to slap
- ordering witness into stress positions such as standing on one foot with both hands raised
- calling witness “babi”
- kicking the chair on which witness was seated
MACC investigations director Norazlan Mohd Razali denied Siti Nurul’s allegations made in a police report and also in a video-recorded press conference yesterday, saying the anti-graft body will also lodge a police report.
“MACC strongly rejects her allegations that she was threatened, scolded and forced to give evidence as detailed in her video.
“Her allegation that she was surrounded by male officers and threatened is a fabrication. Instead, throughout the recording of her statement, she was accompanied by two female officers at all times,” Norazlan said in a statement to The Malaysian Insight.
Siti Nurul, who worked for Syed Saddiq at the ministry is also the honorary secretary of the Youth Power Club.
At a press conference yesterday, she said she had been subjected to threats and intimidation tactics by MACC officers while being questioned as a witness over investigations into RM250,000 that went missing from Syed Saddiq’s home in March this year.
She said she was not allowed to speak to her lawyer, who was left waiting for her in the lobby when she turned up to give her statement yesterday.
She made a number of allegations of mistreatment, including being ordered into stress positions, such as standing on one foot with both hands raised, being called “babi” (pig) by one of the officers while another threatened to slap her, and having the chair she was sitting on kicked from underneath her
“The questioning started about 11.30am but before they asked me anything, they had put me under pressure by harassing me.
“One of the officers used harsh words like ‘babi’ (pig) on me, while another officer threatened to slap me.
“He brought his hand right to my face.
“One of them then asked me to stand on one foot with both my hands raised. He said that if I was tired, I could switch legs,” she said.
She revealed that she was made to answer questions about Syed Saddiq’s personal life and believed that the MACC’s tactics were to pressure her to confess information that implicated him.
Insisting that she was a witness and not the subject of investigation, Siti Nurul said yesterday’s questioning had been the third since April.
Syed Saddiq lodged a report on the cash that went missing from a safe in his house on March 29.
The MACC is currently investigating Bersatu Youth’s bank account.
MACC chief Azam Baki said the investigation director will issue a statement on the matter.
Yesterday, Dr Mahathir Mohamad said Perikatan Nasional was using enforcement agencies like the MACC to pressure the opposition, specifically against Bersatu Youth leaders who were aligned to him.
“We are surprised that the MACC is doing this, detaining people, questioning them and all that.
“If they don’t (stop) we have to be very active in exposing all the wrong things that they carry out,” he said during his press conference.
Meanwhile, Bersatu Youth member Adam Mukhriz Mohd Muhayeddin told reporters that he had lodged a police report against MACC for interrogating him and another party member in isolation until the wee hours of the morning yesterday.
Adam is also Dr Mahathir’s media aide.