No. 5229 PP 2644/12/2011 (025832)
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AV
record
BY TIM LEONARD
newsdesk@thesundaily.com
K
UALA LUMPUR :
The
questioning of suspects or
witnesses by the Malaysian
Anti-Corruption Commis-
sion will soon be video-recorded
using a three-deck security system,
once special audio visual recording
rooms are set up at all its offices.
“We hope to equip all MACC
offices nationwide with these AV
recording rooms to supplement our
CCTV system so that there will be
no complaints of harassment or
high-handed approach in interview-
ing witnesses and suspects,” Chief
Commissioner Datuk Seri Abu Kas-
simMohamed
(pic)
said yesterday.
He said there had been several
allegations of officers using force or
compelling witnesses to give their
statements,whichwere later claimed
to bemade under duress.
“With these video recording
rooms, all statements given by a
suspect or witness will be recorded
using a system with a three-deck
security system, which will make it
almost impossible to doctor or alter
the recordings.
“With this system in place, we
hope there won’t be any (more)
baseless accusations on MACC’s
procedure in questioning witnesses
and suspects,” he said after receiving
the 2010 Report by the independent
MACC Complaints Committee at
>Questioningof suspects andwitnesses
byMACC tobe video-recorded to avoid
allegations of harassment
Fukushimaplant
tobescrapped
SENDAI:
Ja-
pan says its
stricken Fuku-
shima Daiichi
nuclear plant will have
to be scrapped, while pressure
alsogrew for the evacuation zone
around the crippled facility to be
expanded.
With no end in sight to the
world’s worst nuclear crisis in 25
years, the US ordered a Marine
emergency response unit to
Japan, and French nuclear group
Areva said it was likely to step up
assistance to the plant’s
operator.
PrimeMinister NaotoKan said
yesterday the facility at the
centre of the worst atomic
accident sinceChernobyl in 1986
must bedecommissioned, Kyodo
news reported. Officials have
previously hinted the plant would
be retired once the situation
there is stabilised, given the
severe damage it has sustained,
including likely partial meltdowns
and a series of hydrogen blasts.
However, therewere no plans
to widen a 20km exclusion zone
around the Fukushima plant
despite theUNatomicwatchdog
saying radiation in a village 40km
away had reached evacuation
levels. Japan’s top government
spokesman Yukio Edano, asked
whether further evacuations
should be ordered, told a press
conference: “I don’t think that
this is something of a nature
which immediately requires such
action. “But ... we will continue
monitoring the level of radiation
with heightened vigilance andwe
intend to take action if
necessary.”
His comments came after the
International Atomic Energy
Agency added its voice to that
ofGreenpeace, whichhaswarned
for several days that residents,
especially children and pregnant
women, should leave Iitate
village. The IAEA’s head of nu-
clear safety and security, Denis
Flory, said in Vienna that radia-
tion levels there had exceeded
the criteria for triggering evacu-
ations.
He said the IAEA – which has
no mandate to order nations to
act – had advised Japan to “care-
fully assess the situation, and they
have indicated that it is already
under assessment”.
The reading in Iitate was two
megabecquerels per square
metre – a “ratio about two times
higher than levels” at which the
IAEA recommends evacuations,
said the head of its Incident and
Emergency Centre, Elena
Buglova.
Iodine-131 in the Pacific
Ocean waters near the plant has
risen to a new highof 4,385 times
the legal level, the power station
operator TEPCO said. Elevated
radiation levels have also been
detected in the air near the plant,
and in regional farm produce as
well as in Tokyo drinking water.
At the plant, workers pushed
on with the high-stakes battle to
stabilise reactors, into which
water has been poured to flood
and cool fuel rods that are
assumed to have partiallymelted
down. They are also struggling
to safely dispose of thousands of
tons of highly contaminated
run-off water. – AFP
MORE REPORTS
ON
PAGE 10
X
authentic copy if dispute arises on its
contents.
Th e MACC c omp l a i n t s
committee, headed by former
Appeals Court Judge Datuk Mohd
Noor Abdullah and five other
members, has also proposed that
metal scanners and X-ray scanners
be installed to ensure physical safety
of witnesses, suspects and officers.
In welcoming the proposal, Abu
Kassim said plans were afoot
to have an enlarged MACC head-
quarters inPutrajayawhichwill have
its own holding cells, interrogation
rooms and other equipment.
He saidunder theprovisionof the
law, the MACC office was granted
equal status as a police stationwhere
suspects could be held and
interrogation could be carried out.
“Wehave receivedapproval from
the cabinet tohave build a headquar-
ters in Putrajaya with underground
lock-ups and holding rooms,” he
said, adding that details will be
disclosed in the near future.
Abu Kassim said the MACC
viewed the conduct of its officers
seriously andwasworking to ensure
their level of professionalism and
integritywas never compromisedor
questioned. He said the commission
received 54 complaints of various
offences allegedly committed by its
officers.
“Arising of these complaints,
three officers were sacked for
misconduct and other offences, 13
were issuedwithwarnings, and three
others demoted and had their salary
reduced,” he said, adding that 11
c o m p l a i n t s w e r e u n d e r
investigation.
theMACCAcademy.
For example , Hongkong ’ s
Independent Commission Against
Corruption uses video recording
equipment in the rooms where sus-
pects and witnesses have their
statements taken. There is also a
convex mirror placed in the corner
of the room, whichwill clearly show
all the people present in the room, to
dispel any claims on intimidation by
investigating officers.
The interv i ewee and the
investigating officer are both given a
copy of the recording, and a third
copy sealed an kept in a vault. This
third copy is considered the