C’mon, make a stand, ex-Special Branch officer tells Gani

Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail should come out and clarify the issues surrounding 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), former Special Branch deputy director Datuk Abdul Hamid Bador said, as the ex-attorney general appeared to have gone “silent” after his removal from office. In an open letter to the government, Hamid wondered about Gani’s silence and sympathised with Gani’s fate. The government had cited Gani’s kidney ailment as reason for terminating his services on July 28. The news came amid an investigation into alleged scandals at 1MDB. Gani was then one of the four members of a high-level task force probing into allegations of financial wrongdoing, as well as claims that money flowed through 1MDB-linked entities before ending up in the personal accounts of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak. The special task force, however, had been disbanded. “What has happened to you Tan Sri? Some quarters said Tan Sri was threatened... As if you have some sort of scandal that can be used to discredit you,” Hamid said in the letter. “Come on Tan Sri!!! What is a small personal scandal, even if there is such, when compared with the horrific impact the 1MDB fiasco has unto the nation. “People will easily forgive you. Come out and make a stand. All this while you are idolised as a tough fighter among civil servants. Why all of a sudden you become so timid? What have they done to you? (Remember) Allah SWT will protect you sir,” he said, adding that he always believed in Gani’s integrity. Hamid said he still remembered Gani’s words during their last meeting days before the former A-G was sacked. “Hey look... this difficult decision that I have made is not about toppling the government. I am not interested in politics. I am just doing my job,” Hamid said of Gani’s words. He added that he was also confident with Gani leading the 1MDB special task force before he was sacked, due to Gani’s “no nonsense” stand. Hamid on August 17 was transferred out of the Special Branch to a new security unit in the Prime Minister’s Department.