The Straits Times, November 1, 2007
KUALA LUMPUR - ONE of Malaysia's top ranked police officers was arrested and charged with corruption on Thursday for allegedly concealing massive wealth.
Ramli Yusoff, director of the Commercial Crime Investigation Department, was charged with failing to reveal that he owned property worth about 1 million ringgit (S$130,458) and 154,000 shares of unspecified value in a manufacturing firm.
It is not known how much the shares are worth.
The country's third-highest ranking police officer, Ramli was also charged with breaching government employee rules by being the director of a separate company. He faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison if convicted.
Ramli, the country's third-highest ranking police officer, was freed on 20,000 ringgit bail. The trial is scheduled to start Jan 15.
He pleaded innocent to the charges in court and claimed he was a victim of the Anti-Corruption Agency, which investigated him. He also accused the police force of failing to back him up.
Ramli, 55, had stunned the police force by holding a news conference Monday, when he told reporters he was being investigated for allegedly concealing assets worth 27 million ringgit.
He insisted he and other members of the department have been 'mistreated by the ACA and are yet to be protected by their own force.'
Ramli?s lawyer, K. Kumarendran, said Ramli's 38-year career in the Royal Malaysian Police was now in jeopardy. 'The current charge has cast a shadow on his character and credibility as a respectable senior officer,' the lawyer told the court.
The ACA said he is the most senior police officer ever charged with corruption in independent Malaysia's history. -- AP
KUALA LUMPUR - ONE of Malaysia's top ranked police officers was arrested and charged with corruption on Thursday for allegedly concealing massive wealth.Ramli Yusoff, director of the Commercial Crime Investigation Department, was charged with failing to reveal that he owned property worth about 1 million ringgit (S$130,458) and 154,000 shares of unspecified value in a manufacturing firm.
It is not known how much the shares are worth.
The country's third-highest ranking police officer, Ramli was also charged with breaching government employee rules by being the director of a separate company. He faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison if convicted.
Ramli, the country's third-highest ranking police officer, was freed on 20,000 ringgit bail. The trial is scheduled to start Jan 15.
He pleaded innocent to the charges in court and claimed he was a victim of the Anti-Corruption Agency, which investigated him. He also accused the police force of failing to back him up.
Ramli, 55, had stunned the police force by holding a news conference Monday, when he told reporters he was being investigated for allegedly concealing assets worth 27 million ringgit.
He insisted he and other members of the department have been 'mistreated by the ACA and are yet to be protected by their own force.'
Ramli?s lawyer, K. Kumarendran, said Ramli's 38-year career in the Royal Malaysian Police was now in jeopardy. 'The current charge has cast a shadow on his character and credibility as a respectable senior officer,' the lawyer told the court.
The ACA said he is the most senior police officer ever charged with corruption in independent Malaysia's history. -- AP
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