Tuesday, April 06, 2010

Spy thriller: Israeli agents in Bukit Aman


Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim launched another “Israel-link” salvo in the Dewan Rakyat today.
According to him, the Israeli milita
ry intelligence had been involved in the police technology park in Bukit Aman since two years ago.

During the supplementary bill debate, the Permatang Pauh MP claimed that Inspector-General of Police Musa Hassan had admitted this in a statement.

He quoted Musa as saying in a news report last year, "Police were aware of the involvement of the Israelis in the communications upgrading system. We informed the home ministry as soon as we learnt about it.”

To back his claim, Anwar also produced several letters which he said were from the senior police officers, namely the police chief, head of logistics and the Special Branch director.

The opposition leader said in October 2008, Lim Kit Siang (DAP-Ipoh Timor) had raised the same issue in the House "but this was brushed aside by the home minister then".

"Then between November and December (of the same year), a report was lodged by police officers and the case was investigated by one ASP Sairah. Then Sairah was transferred to Taiping and there was no news after that," he said.

Anwar added that on Nov 25, 2008, the then home minister (Syed Hamid Albar) held a special briefing at the VIP room at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport.

The briefing, he said, was regarding the alleged involvement of Israeli intelligence in the information technology division of the second and third floors of the Bukit Aman police headquarters.

Letter 'reveals' Israeli involvement

According to Anwar, the matter was first raised by the police's logistic director Mashuri Zainal through a letter dated Dec 1, 2008 to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).

The senior police officer alleged that the third phase of the police reporting system (PRS) project did not follow procedure.

The letter, Anwar said, revealed that the project was handed to Masterplan Consultancy Sdn Bhd (MPC) and later subcontracted to AsiaSoft Malaysia Bhd.

Although this appeared normal on the surface, the letter however claimed that in May 2008, a report from the Special Branch director confirmed the involvement of two former Israeli intelligence oficers in the PRS project.

"In August 2008, the Special Branch probed Israeli involvement via Asiasoft as subcontractor and two shareholders of Asiasoft -- B System Sdn Bhd which holds 70 percent and Asia Soft Pte Ltd (30 percent), which was registered in Singapore, and controlled by AsiaSoft Global Pte Ltd based in Tel Aviv, Israel," said the opposition leader.

Anwar said the latest revelation could not be disputed as Israeli nationals Izhak David Nakar and Ido Schechter are both directors for AsiaSoft Global.

"And the letter I mentioned just now suggested that the contract be terminated for two reasons -- national security and not adhering to procedure,” he said, noting that no action was taken.

This was followed by a report lodged by one ASP Suhaimi on Nov 28, 2008 with the Dang Wangi district police headquarters accusing Masterplan Consultancy of false declaration.

On Dec 3, Anwar said Mahsuri (the logistics director) wrote to the home ministry's secretary-general and subsequently to the ministry's legal adviser asking the contract to be terminated.

He added that on Jan 12, 2009, the ministry's legal adviser had answered, replying that the matter had been referred to the relevant authorities and termination of the contract could only take place with "instruction from the top leadership".

Syed Hamid: It's a lie

At this juncture, Syed Hamid (BN-Kota Tinggi) stood up and accused the opposition leader of "lying".

He then challenged Anwar to provide evidence that he was at the meeting mentioned earlier, and this prompted the latter to give specific details of the alleged meeting.

"But I had attended a lot of meetings (when I was a minister) and it was impossible for me to remember every single one," Syed Hamid retorted.

At a press conference later, Anwar denied that he was anti-semitic.

"This is not a Jew issue or anti-semitism. This is an issue of security and espionage, the involvement of Apco (Worldwide). We were fooled until our 1Malaysia concept has big similarities with One 'Israel'," he said.

Previously, Anwar had alleged that Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak's 1Malaysia concept was a carbon copy of the One Israel concept.

He claimed that the same US-based public relations firm Apco Worldwide had masterminded both concepts, a charge which had been denied by Najib as well as Apco.

Following this, the government sought to censure Anwar for “misleading” the House by referring him to the Rights and Privileges Committee.

IGP: Provide evidence

In a related development, Musa challenged Anwar to provide proof concerning his latest allegation.

He said the police needed concrete evidence, including all information obtained by Anwar, before starting a detailed investigation on the matter.

"Provide evidence on the matter... so that it's easy for us to investigate because we can't start an investigation without any evidence," he told Bernama.

Musa, who declined further comment, said police would open investigation as soon as they received complete information from Anwar.

by FMT

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