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Friday, April 30, 2021

The 'Atuk'-risation of electronic "evidence" in criminal proceedings

FMT:

It’s me in leaked audio recording, confirms Hamzah


Home minister Hamzah Zainudin says he is the man in a leaked audio recording discussing the police force.

PETALING JAYA: Home minister Hamzah Zainudin has confirmed it is his voice in a leaked audio recording of a man talking about the reshuffle in the police force.

At a press conference today, Hamzah insisted he had not done anything wrong when talking about promotions and the change of roles in the police force.

However, he said the act of taping other people’s conversations is an offence.

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MM Online (05 Mar 2020):

SRC trial: MACC chief reveals deputy’s aide first to obtain Najib’s phone recording


MACC chief commissioner Latheefa Koya is pictured at the Kuala Lumpur High Court March 5, 2020. ― Picture by Hari Anggara

KUALA LUMPUR, March 5 — Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) chief Latheefa Koya told the High Court today a special officer to her deputy was the first person who obtained the nine audio tapes which showed an alleged cover-up surrounding the 1MDB investigation back in 2016.

Testifying as the 12th defence witness in Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s RM42 million SRC International Sdn Bhd corruption trial today, Latheefa was earlier asked to outline the chronology of events leading up to the January 8 press conference which subsequently resulted in the bombshell revelation of recordings that she claimed shows a conspiracy at the highest level of the then Barisan Nasional (BN) government.

She was subpoenaed by Najib’s defence team as they wanted to admit the audio recordings in court to support their case.

Under examination-in-chief by Najib’s lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, Latheefa testified that she discovered the existence of the tape recordings the week before her scheduled press conference after being approached by MACC deputy commissioner Datuk Seri Azam Baki.

Muhammad Shafee: When did you discover the existence of the tape recordings?

Latheefa: On Friday, January 3, a week before I had a press conference on January 8, I was approached by Azam in MACC Putrajaya who informed me he had received a package which contained a couple of thumb drives, nine of them.

Latheefa: He said he received it from his special officer who got it from his house. Immediately, I directed Azam to organise for a team to look into the documents in there.

Muhammad Shafee: When he came to see you, did he bring the package?

Latheefa: No.

When asked for her reaction, Latheefa said she asked Azam what he knew as she did not know whether it was an audio or video recording at the time.

She then told the court Azam’s special officer had received the nine thumb drives along with a piece of paper detailing the recordings’ narrative placed inside an envelope on the morning of January 3.

Following that, Latheefa said the MACC’s technical team worked through the weekend of January 4 and 5 to preserve the contents of the recordings by making copies, before deciding to make them public on January 8.

“The main basis is the shocking revelation of covering up and fabricating evidence and involvement of individuals who were not supposed to be,” she said.

Muhammad Shafee then asked her what the MACC did next to determine the authenticity of the recordings.

Latheefa: On Monday (January 6) I met up with the team in the morning to discuss and look at documents. I was told this is an audio recording and it has got various dates and involved certain personalities.

We started playing the recordings and we found out the content of those recordings is discussing about certain files involving certain personalities. When it was being played, my deputy, the head of MACC’s Anti-Money Laundering Division, and few others were able to recognise the identities of the people speaking.

It was a very clear recording. We were able to identify who and recognise what they were talking about. Based on the contents, we were able to confirm this was authentic.

Muhammad Shafee: By the 8th, had you made a clinical determination that these tape recordings have not been tampered?

Latheefa: The nature of conversation doesn’t look like it was cut, so we don’t see any possibility of it being a fake. The other reason, we were listening to the conversation and we double checked the events that happened before and after, and these dates commensurate the dates of the recording.

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kt notes:

First, let us remind ourselves of Hamzah's assertion that the act of taping other people’s conversations is an offence.

Second, Latheefa Koya presented to the court a series of recorded conversations of allegedly the then-PM. Offence? National security concerns? Obviously not as the judge allowed that. 'Atuk'-rised?

Thirdly, Latheefa informed the court that her officer had received the nine thumb drives along with a piece of paper detailing the recordings’ narrative placed inside an envelope on the morning of January 3. Any security concern of the surreptitious nature of the acquisition? Obviously none - Najib must be eff-ed kaukau.

Fourthly, any verification of the recordings a la the alleged gay sex clips of a minister frolicking in gay abandonment at a Sandakan Hotel? Again, none. Latheefa said: my deputy, the head of MACC’s Anti-Money Laundering Division, and few others were able to recognise the identities of the people speaking. Wow. Recall how the authenticity of the gay sex clip was dismissed by Atuk even before the police had a chance to assess its veracity?

ST (Sing): I believe sex video is fake, says Mahathir



Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad remarked that technology allows many things to be fabricated.
PHOTO: AFP

KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has said he believes a sex video involving one of his senior Cabinet ministers is fake, remarking that technology would even allow such images of him to be fabricated.

"I do not believe this is genuine. Nowadays, we can do a lot of things with videos and pictures if we are good at it," he told reporters at an event in Shah Alam on Wednesday (June 12) night, according to Malaysiakini.

“Perhaps one day you will see my picture in this kind of production."

Economic Affairs Minister Azmin Ali had on Wednesday evening categorically denied he was one of the men in a series of videos leaked the day before. An aide of a deputy minister had earlier put up a separate video on Facebook saying and he and Mr Azmin were the men in the clips.

Lastly, the court accepted those recordings, even though then-PM Mahathir said "Nowadays, we can do a lot of things with videos and pictures if we are good at it" let alone audio recordings. Amazing.

The 'Atuk'-risation of criminal proceedings clearly seen in the 'Gay Sex' video clips and the 'then-PM' audio recordings.

End-note: 'Atuk'-risation means eff-all that's fair and standard, no standard established rule need to be applied, but new created rules and standards could do [such as carrying Anwar's alleged mattress' into court]. Wakakaka.



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