Anwar grilled by Sabah RCI investigators, reveals the names of 3 CULPRITS

PETALING JAYA - Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim denied any involvement in the infamous Project I.C. in Sabah, revealing to investigators the names of 3 men he believed were responsible for the debacle.
The 64-year-old leader had taken part in an investigation conducted by the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the long-standing illegal immigrants problem in Sabah. Two officers from the East Malaysian state had visited Anwar at his PKR party headquarters in Petaling Jaya on Friday and interviewed him for more than an hour.
According to PKR legal affairs director Latheefa Koya, the RCI team was keen to know about Anwar's role and involvement in the project, which has been blamed for a myriad of social, economic and political problems in the East Malaysian state. Despite being resource-rich, Sabah is among the poorest states in Malaysia, with residents complaining of insufficient infrastructure, public amenities, health and social facilities apart from perhaps the worst affliction - a glaring lack of security.
The Umno-BN government, which has controlled Sabah since 1963, has been accused of issuing citizenship and Identification Cards (I.C.s or residency documents) to hundreds of thousands of unqualified foreign workers in exchange for their votes during elections.
"This is not a preliminary meeting, this is an investigation to find how much he knows, how much his involvement before he is called in at the RCI. He has answered he has chosen to answer," Latheefa told a press conference on Friday.
"The questions revolve around the terms of reference of the RCI - what was Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's involvement with regards to the issuance of I.C.s to the thousands of non-Malaysians in Sabah. So the questions were about whether he was directly involved, whether he played a role, who was the person actually involved and was there any policy with regards to the giving of the I.C.s or citizenship to the thousands of people there who were not Malaysians. Briefly he has explained his role but some of the questions need further documentation which we will bring if we can because some may involve the Official Secrets Act but he has given his full co-operation and the officers seem to be pretty satisfied. If there are any additional questions, they will tell us.

Anwar to take the stand in August or September
Latheefa expects the RCI to call on Anwar to take the stand some time in August. If there was insufficient time, it could be in September after the RCI's 6-monthly term which expires in mid-August is extended, she added.
"He will go to Sabah and expand on it because one of the interesting questions they have asked is what is his recommendation to solve and resolve the problem. And this is what he is looking forward to.
"He has been invited to go to Sabah RCI to be a witness at the hearing. It is crucial because at the material time, this whole issue of the Project I.C. which started much much earlier during the time of Tun Abdul Razak had gone on and continued until when Datuk Seri Anwar was in government as Deputy Prime Minister. So they wanted to ask how much of a role and influence he was during that time.
Not involved, named 3 culprits
Asked what was Anwar's response when questioned if he was behind the Project I.C., which many Sabahans also call Project M (after former premier Mahathir Mohamad who has been accused of being one of the main architects of the scam), Latheefa said the Opposition chief had denied any involvement.
"Briefly he said no, he is not involved. But he will explain how much he knows about it, who was involved, who were the actual culprits," said Latheefa.
When asked if Anwar had named any of the culprits to the investigators, Latheefa said he had. However, she declined to share the information but admitted the names were "not a secret".
"Yes he has named 3 people. But I think I will hold on this because they (the trio accused by Anwar) are also going to be interviewed," she said.
So far, two of Mahathir's closest aides have been implicated by other witnesses in the Sabah RCI. They are the late former minister Megat Junid and Aziz Shamsudin, Mahathir's former political secretary.
Megat Junid had been Mahathir's deputy when the latter had also held the Home Ministry portfolio during the politically turbulent 1990s.

Source: Malaysia Chronicle