TAWAU: Former Eastern Sabah Security Command (Esscom) chief of staff (Intelligence) Datuk Mat Zaki Md Zain and three others have filed a RM100mil defamation suit against the police and 10 others for wrongful prosecution and arrest in the case involving the murder of an ehailing driver.
The suit, which also named former Esscom officers and members Fabian Anak Rungan, Dennis Anak Enit and Mohd Azlan Sakaran as the plaintiffs, was filed through Messrs Lincon & Company at the High Court here on Aug 15.
They named former PDRM director of Criminal Investigation Department Datuk Seri Abdul Jalil Hassan, Kuala Lumpur police chief Datuk Rusdi Mohd Isa, Selangor police chief Datuk Hussein Omar Khan and former Sabah Police Commissioner Datuk Idris Abdullah as the first to fourth defendants.
Other defendants named in the suit are Tawau district police chief ACP Jasmin Hussin, ACP Dr Mohd Hakim Hashom, DSP Yusman Shahri Marinsah, former Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Acryl Sani Abdullah Sani, the Attorney General’s Chamber and the government.
Mat Zaki, in a statement issued yesterday, claimed that despite being acquitted, he and the three other plaintiffs continued to be pressured, transferred out of Esscom and then transferred out of Sabah without clear justification, Bernama reported.
He also claimed that despite having been cleared and released from the charges by the court after a year of remand in prison, the party responsible for the wrongful charges against them never made an effort to apologise or try to restore their dignity, good name and reputation.
The plaintiffs are claiming special damages, a declaration and apologies.
On Jan 25 this year, the High Court acquitted Mat Zaki and seven others of charges of murder and conspiracy in the murder of ehailing driver Nurman Bakaratu, 61, after his ex-wife confessed to killing him. They were charged with committing the offence at an oil palm plantation in Tawau on Jan 13, 2023.
