Dato' Ramli Yusuff : The real reason why he was brought down

Dato Ramli Yusuff was the former Director of the CCID who is currently under suspension while he awaits the outcome of his trials. While serving as the Director of the CCID, Ramli was charged for various offences under the Anti-Corruption Act. At the time of his suspension he was involved in several ‘sensitive’ investigations against the Chinese underworld and the organised crime syndicate plus against a few prominent businessmen linked to those who walk in the corridors of power (the MAS issue being the most prominent of them).

One such investigation was against the Tangkak (Johor) crime syndicate controlling the loan shark or Ah Long activities -- the Goh Cheng Poh case -- that had links to the highest hierarchy in the Malaysian police force or PDRM. After Ramli’s suspension, the Ah Long activities were able to flourish unhindered and it soon spread throughout the entire country to become the menace it is today.

In an unprecedented move, the AG’s Chambers refused to advise and prepare affidavits for the CCID officers. The ACA (now MACC) then circumvented police investigations and cleared Goh Cheng Poh. The AG then conceded to Goh Cheng Poh’s application for habeas corpus and he was released unconditionally while several police officers involved in intelligence gathering against the crime syndicate were instead charged for fabricated crimes.

To make it more dramatic, the MACC stormed lawyer Rosli Dahlan's office and arrested him so brutally on the eve of Hari Raya just to teach him a lesson for preparing the affidavits, which the AG had directed his officers not to prepare for the CCID. In that arrest, Rosli was injured and he subsequently lodged a police report about how he was assaulted in front of his entire office.

The message the powers-that-be was sending to these police officers and lawyer in particular and the police force in general was very chilling indeed. And that message was: do not attempt to touch the organised crime syndicate or else suffer the consequences.

Further to that Ramli was also investigating the losses in excess of RM8 billion that Malaysia Airlines (MAS) suffered during the time of Tajuddin Ramli. Again, lawyer Rosli had featured prominently in pursuing both criminal and civil cases against Tajuddin Ramli in defiance to the AG who wanted to just close the case and mark it NFA.

You can read more about the MAS issue in the nine links below.

Apparently, the AG was very unhappy that Ramli had sent the Prime Minister a letter recommending that those involved in the MAS scandal should face prosecution -- as this ‘undermined’ the AG Chambers that had directed that the case be referred to the Securities Commission for the offence to be compounded as a minor ‘technical offence’.

That was when they decided that Ramli had to be brought down.

Three charges for purported non-declaration of assets was brought against Ramli at the KL Sessions Court plus another charge in the KK Sessions Court in Sabah -- and the trials were conducted simultaneously.

The charge in KK was for Ramli’s alleged ‘abuse of power’ in using a police Cessna for his private use. It was also widely publicised that the charge named two civilians on board. That has since been dropped and that part of the charge has been amended.

It was also conveniently concealed from public knowledge that, at that time, Ramli was fully uniformed and on official duty as a police Director plus duly escorted by other uniformed police officers while attending pre-arranged and well-documented official meetings with a specified itinerary.

That the IGP appeared as the Prosecution’s 75th witness to give evidence against Ramli strengthened the allegation that this was a conspiracy to eliminate him. This is buttressed by the fact that even the judge remarked that the IGP’s evidence contradicted many of the evidence previously given by other senior officers and Directors.

The whole of the MACC investigation started with a MACC report vide R/No: 163/2007 dated 05/03/2007 serial Ref No. 030757 which was made by a MACC officer named Sok One a/l Esen. It is a matter of public record that Sok One is the same MACC officer who cleared Goh Cheng Poh of any connection with the PDRM hierarchy. He was also the same MACC officer who filed an affidavit to support Goh Cheng Poh’s affidavit to challenge the police officers’ affidavits.

It must be noted that Sok One was also the MACC officer who arrested and assaulted lawyer Rosli in his office on the eve of Hari Raya.

In the report that Sok One lodged against Ramli, he stated that he “received information which stated that on 25/6/2007 Dato’ Ramli Bin Yusuff, Director Police CCID Bukit Aman, had abused his powers as a senior police officer to force the villagers of Kg. Tanjung Labian Tunku, Lahad Datu, Sabah to vacate their land to allow a company Kinsajaya Sdn Bhd in which he (Dato Ramli) had interest in to carry out a project on the said land”.

Under cross-examination in court, Sok One admitted that he had recorded the information he received on a piece of paper but had destroyed that piece of paper. That paper was relevant evidence but had been destroyed.

by Raja Petra Kamaruddin

For more details, here.