Day 5: Mudslinging and Perjury at Rosli Dahlan’s Trial

MACC DPP Kevin Morais stuns the Honorable Judge on Day 5 of  Rosli Dahlan’s Trial and commits perjury

by Din Merican

Mudslinging and Perjury at Rosli Dahlan's Trial

The lies by Anthony Kevin Morais reached  a new low at Rosli Dahlan’s trial today. Kevin stunned everyone in court, including the Judge  when he uttered something totally opposite, repudiating what he testified yesterday  and spent painful hours trying to explain that these inconsistencies are not actually contradictions!

Already the MACC had irked Rosli’s counsel, Dato’ Kumaraendran, when the trial couldn’t start at 9.30am as scheduled, due to the absence of the MACC Investigating Officer and witness. It appears the MACC is resorting to all tricks in the book to delay the trial, and frustrate the Defence Team. The case only started at 11 a.m.

Yesterday, Kevin had to apologise after being caught lying by making up stories about Rosli’s involvement in various Sale & Purchase transactions, which were totally untrue. Kevin had also said that he had seen cheque butts belonging to a company called Shuttle Eight Sdn Bhd as his basis for saying that Dato’ Ramli had received bribes and thereby justifying the issuance of the s.32 Notices against Encik Rosli and Dato’ Ramli. When challenged to produce the cheque butts, Kevin and DPP Zulqarnain asked the Judge  for time out to enable them to look for the cheque butts.

The Defence had all along suspected that Kevin and the MACC had fabricated evidence and information for this case. Kevin confirmed all of the Defence’s suspicion when he turned up today, then glibly said that he did not promise to produce the cheque butts of Shuttle Eight or that he was referring to that company when he used the phrase “cheque butts”. A fuming Dato’ Kumaraendran warned him- ” I must remind you that even though you are a DPP, you can be charged for perjury!”

From then on, the trial went down very badly, with DPP Zulqarnain jumping like a frog  in boiling water and  raising objections to every question posed by Dato’ Kumaraendran. The trial became more grim with  the Defence Counsel exposing more and more of Kevin’s lies. It was just simply pathetic to see  Kevin Morais, DPP of the A-G Chambers cum Deputy Director of Legal & Prosecution Division of the MACC digging himself into deeper trouble hole with every answer that he gave to Dato’ Kumaraendran’s piercing questions.

When his lies became intolerably inexplicable, Kevin resorted to selective amnesia, echoed and supported by DPP Zulqarnain, which prompted Dato’ Kumaraendran to retort ” The forgetfulness of this witness has now infected the DPP” causing giggles from both the bench and the public gallery.

A Chinese Dato’ who was observing the proceedings from the public gallery was so amused by Kevin’s contrived explanations of the “cheque butts” that he even exclaimed loudly- ” Hey, its company’s cheque butt la not your butt! Don’t make up stories.”

Having Kevin in the witness box being grilled by Dato’ Kumaraendran is better than watching some mediocre RTM soap dramas. One of the highlights was when Kevin insisted that Rosli’s friendship with Dato’ Ramli from their university days was sufficient for Kevin to deem Rosli, an “associate”, to which Dato Kumarendran then suggested that Kevin should also have issued a s.32 Notice against his own boss, Dato’ Nordin Hassan, who was not just Dato’ Ramli’s university mate but they were also roommates.

Kevin’s lies abetted by DPP Zulqarnain must have been so revolting that it caused Dato’ Kumaraendran to make this caustic remark- ” You, Kevin are a disgrace to the MACC. Throughout these two days, you behaved so cavalier to many things. You call Encik Rosli a witness, yet you never interviewed him nor bothered to reply to his polite request of enquiry; you just served him a notice and then arrested and charged him. It is no wonder that the public is so repulsed by the conduct of MACC officers.”

Dato’ Abu Kassim, if you want to make a difference to the image of the MACC as an effective and respected agency, then come to court and see for yourself how MACC prosecutions are being conducted. Also, learn to treat your witnesses better. As it is, one has been found dead. Another interrogated beyond office hours. In the case of Lawyer Rosli Dahlan, after you have abused him, what a crank  will then say ” Oh, he was an important witness!”