Reclassify Nedim's case, lawyer tells police

The police have been asked to explain why they had issued a statement absolving the involvement of a minister’s son in an assault case at a posh condominium in Kuala Lumpur last month although the CCTV footage had implicated him.

PKR vice president N Surendran in a statement said that on Mar 24, Brickfields district police chief Wan Abdul Bari had rushed to publicly clear Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Nazri Abdul Aziz’s son Mohamad Nedim (left) of any involvement in the assault.

From the CCTV footage, it is clear now that the police may have tried to cover-up this case, he added.

Surendran was referring to Malaysiakini’s report today that police were surprised to find in the CCTV recording that “more than two persons” including Nedim were involved in holding and assaulting a 50-year-old security supervisor at the condominium.

He also urged the police to explain why this case was classified as the minor offence of affray under Section 160 of the Penal Code, when the security supervisor had clearly stated in his police report that he had been assaulted and force was used on him.

“The CCTV footage now backs up his allegations. We call upon the police to reclassify this case as assault, use of criminal force and causing of hurt under Penal Code sections 321, 350 and 351.

“Once again the police leadership have proven that they are prepared to disregard the law and abuse their powers in order to protect and defend Umno/BN and its leaders,” he added.

The prominent lawyer also urged the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to transfer the assault case from Brickfields police headquarters to an independent investigation team.

A day after Malaysiakini reported the incident on Mar 23, Wan Abdul Bari denied that Nazri’s son was involved in the fist-fight, with the English-language daily The Star quoting him as saying the case involved only the bodyguard and a security guard.

Surendran called for Wan Abdul Bari to be probed for abuse of power as the OCPD has “failed to carry out an impartial investigation”.

“We also call upon the home minister and the IGP to publicly guarantee to the rakyat that the police force will act fairly and impartially in all cases, including those involving wrongdoing by Umno/BN leaders or their family members,” he said.