KUALA LUMPUR: CRIMINAL experts warn that Clare Rewcastle-Brown’s willingness to break international laws in the pursuit of her ultimate aim — the toppling of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s government — brings into question her objectivity.
As such, they caution that anything published by Rewcastle-Brown may be prejudiced and distorted by her personal agenda.
Documents traced to Thai authorities investigating former PetroSaudi International employee Xavier Andre Justo had quoted Rewcastle-Brown as saying that she wanted to see Najib destroyed.
In his written confession, Justo had said Rewcastle-Brown had told him that she was “experienced in dealing with stolen data without anyone finding out”.
“Justo had accused her of various wrongdoings, including engaging in illegal and criminal activities.
“As such, the world cannot be faulted for calling into question her credibility when she speaks,” said criminal lawyer Datuk Jahaberdeen Mohamed Yunoos.
Jahaberdeen said the Sarawak-born Briton, who is wanted by police under Section 124B of the Penal Code for “activities detrimental to parliamentary democracy”, could also be charged under Section 411 and 414 of the Penal Code for dealing with stolen property.
Thai authorities initiated the probe against Justo following PetroSaudi’s report that it was being blackmailed by its former executive, who quit in 2011, for US$2.5 million. It was reported that the 49-year-old Geneva native had met a representative of PetroSaudi at a Bangkok hotel where he made his demands. The company brought this to the attention of the police. Justo was arrested in June in Koh Samui where he was living at the time.
The company had, on March 1, also lodged a report with the city of London Police Action Fraud Unit at the National Fraud and Cyber Crime Reporting Centre in connection with allegations made by Sarawak Report on the firm’s relationship with 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB), Malaysia’s strategic development company.
Rewcastle-Brown, the founder of Sarawak Report, is also being investigated under Section 124I of the same law for having allegedly disseminated false reports. If guilty, she could be jailed for up to five years.
Experts say while she could be looking at being slapped with multiple charges in Malaysia, she could be looking at other charges in the United Kingdom and Singapore.
Rewcastle-Brown, through her Sarawak Report and association with opposition leaders, had been vociferous and relentless in levelling allegations against Najib and his administration.
Jahaberdeen said if Rewcastle-Brown, who operates from the UK, had indeed breached the two sections, she would have committed an offence with dual criminality (offences that are also a crime in the host country). If that were the case, extraditing her would be easy.
Section 411 punishes “whoever dishonestly receives or retains any stolen property, knowing or having reason to believe the same to be stolen property” with a jail term which may extend to five years or with fine, or both. The other deals with those “assisting in concealment, disposing of, or making away with property, which he knows or has reason to believe to be stolen property”. They can be imprisoned for up to seven years or with fine, or both.
These sections of the law, Jahaberdeen said, should cover alleged offences committed by The Edge Media Group chairman Datuk Tong Kooi Ong and chief executive officer Ho Kay Tat who had, on July 24, admitted that they were in possession of the stolen data. The two believe that they had done nothing wrong and said they had misled Justo by promising US$2 million in exchange for the data he had secretly downloaded from his workplace.
“If the data Justo had was stolen and if Clare and The Edge had it in their possession, these laws apply. The bottom line is simple, if the data was stolen, those in possession of it, what more using it, would have committed a crime,” the senior lawyer said, adding that authorities could also look at Section 414 of the code in probing Petaling Jaya Utara member of parliament Tony Pua.
On Tuesday, Pua admitted that he had introduced Rewcastle-Brown, who is spearheading a smear campaign against Najib, to Tong and Ho. This admission came only after the NST published evidence from the Thai authorities’ investigations into Justo’s case, in which Pua’s name was mentioned a number of times. He had, before that, never mentioned anything about being the go-between connecting Rewcastle-Brown and the Edge.
While Pua was quick to qualify that he was not privy to what was in the drive that was being traded for US$2 million, he refused to commit when the NST asked him on WhatsApp if it made sense for a person, acting as the go-between for a supposedly valuable commodity with that kind of price tag, to not want to know what was being put up for sale, its authenticity or even where it came from.
“This gives the police a strong basis to establish if Pua had knowingly dealt with something that had been established as stolen.”
According to Thai investigation documents, Rewcastle-Brown, who was allegedly acting as Justo’s broker in selling the stolen data, had contacted him in February to say that she, together with Pua, had arranged for the sale of the stolen data to Tong.
The NST confirmed with the police, who had called him in for questioning on Sept 4, that Pua had withheld this piece of information from them. Following the report, Bukit Aman said an investigation paper against the DAP lawmaker would be opened under Section 120 of the Penal Code for alleged attempts to topple the government.
If guilty of “concealing a design to commit an offence punishable with imprisonment”, Pua could be punished with a prison term which may extend to one-fourth, and if the offence is not committed, to one-eighth of the longest term provided for the offence or with such fine as is provided for the offence, or with both.
(Section 120 finds guilty, whoever intends to facilitate, or knows it to be likely that he will thereby facilitate, the commission of an offence punishable with imprisonment, or voluntarily conceals by any act or illegal omission, the existence of a design to commit such offence, or makes any representation which he knows to be false, respecting such design).
Among the evidence that have emerged from the Thai investigators include a conversation between Rewcastle-Brown and Justo where Pua had seemingly been touted as the man who could move things, as well as a three-month-long WhatsApp conversation involving Rewcastle-Brown, Justo, Tong and Ho, where heated talks of money-laundering and plotting took place, until just before Justo was arrested in June. While all of them have come out to defend themselves, none have denied being engaged in the WhatsApp group named “Meet”.
A criminologist, meanwhile, said police should reapply for Rewcastle-Brown to be extradited following the emergence of evidence that she had broken Malaysia’s laws, which is also a crime in the state where the process would be requested, the UK.
Brian Lord, managing director of Protection Group International (PGI), a cyber security firm PetroSaudi hired to investigate and look into Sarawak Report articles, had, in July, told the Malay Mail that the blog had a “subtract of some email chain and some documentation”.
Lord, who has more than 20 years of experience in cyber security, explained that the inconsistency between the original contents of the report with the one that was published denoted circumstantial inaccuracy and unreliability of the information.
“It is a combination of all those three things; inconsistency between the original and published reports, substitutable communication and the whole private information claim into Sarawak Report… I can firmly say the information is unreliable and, therefore, it is unfair for anybody to draw judgments on it,” he was quoted as saying.