KUALA LUMPUR: A police report has been lodged to clear the name of Opposition leader Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin after he was implicated in a corruption case.
Hamzah's private secretary Ahmad Ikhwan Fadhli said the report was also lodged to urge the police to investigate parties who allegedly influenced government agencies to tarnish Hamzah's reputation.
"His name was wrongly included in the charges to make it seem like he was involved in the offence.
"He (Hamzah) did not even know about the projects mentioned in the charges," he told reporters after lodging the report at Dang Wangi police headquarters here on Friday (May 12).
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Ikhwan urged the police to get to the bottom of the matter so that government agencies such as the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) are not influenced by external parties.
"We hope a proper investigation will clear Hamzah's name," he added.
It was previously reported that Hamzah maintained his innocence after being named in a corruption charge.
In a Facebook post on Wednesday (May 10) following the four corruption charges against businessman Datuk Seri Sim Choo Thiam, the former home minister said it was strange that his name was mentioned then.
"(In the) charges it is stated that the bribe was to 'obtain any projects belonging to agencies under the Home Ministry'. So what project, which is now a corruption matter, was it referring to?" Hamzah said.
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He added it was clear that this was done on purpose to drag his name into matters that did not involve him.
"This is... to pressure certain businessmen in order to point the finger at me and to dirty my name," he said.
Hamzah said it was peculiar that his statement was only recorded on Wednesday afternoon from 4.30pm to 7pm by the MACC, which was after Sim had been brought to court.
"This allegation is clearly made to sully my good name, (as well as) Bersatu and Perikatan Nasional. More so when the Deputy Prime Minister/Umno president himself had spoken openly about creating a court cluster from the leaders of Bersatu and Perikatan.
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"I believe they are worried about the strength of Perikatan... the support of the people will be apparent again during the upcoming six state elections.
"I... believe that certain parties are panicking as their position is shaky, but do not let that lead the public to feel that the MACC is being used by certain leaders," he said.
On Wednesday, Sim pleaded not guilty to charges of receiving and soliciting RM15mil from another businessman in order to secure projects from the Home Ministry two years ago.
