KUALA LUMPUR: Two lawyers appointed by One City Development Sdn Bhd, which owns the land the Sri Maha Mariamman temple is located on, have denied any involvement in events which led to a riot breaking out at the temple earlier this week.
Haniff Khatri said he and fellow lawyer Muhammad Rafique Rashid Ali are advocates and solicitors who were appointed by the property developer to look after the interests of any of the company’s staff who were arrested or detained to assist police investigation into the case.
Haniff said he was appointed on Nov 26 at 7.30pm, more than 12 hours after the temple riot broke out.
“At the time of appointment, only one employee of the company had been arrested by the police, on the afternoon of November 26. Upon my recommendation, the company then engaged the services of Muhamad Rafique Rashid Ali as the lawyer to represent the employee during remand proceedings, scheduled for 11am, November 27 at the Petaling Jaya Magistrate’s Court.
“I can confirm that two officers and one staff have been remanded. However, not even one lawyer has been remanded over the case, in contrast with the announcement in the press conference held by Home Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Mohd Yassin and Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Mohamad Fuzi Harun,” he said.
Haniff was speaking at a joint press conference with Muhammad Rafique in Kota Damansara on Thursday.
Haniff acknowledged that the minister’s press conference was necessary, as the issue affects public sensitivity and that it is the responsibility of any minister to provide an explanation to the people.
He said the home minister and IGP acted correctly to clarify that what took place in USJ was not racial or religious in nature, and was the result of a dispute involving the land owner, the temple’s location as well as two rival temple management representatives.
“However, the issue now is what was stated in the press conference, given that the investigation has yet to be concluded, and that some of the information was inaccurate. In the press conference, it was stated that One City Development, which is the land owner, had engaged lawyers to hire 50 Malay thugs to handle the temple relocation.
‘This should not have happened as the issue is still under investigation,” he said.
He said, as a result of the press conference which stated that two lawyers were involved, word spread that the lawyers were him and Muhammad Rafique.
“This morning, there were already viral messages on Facebook and WhatsApp, which featured photos of Muhammad Rafique and I, accompanied by the caption that we were the lawyers who had engaged these Malay thugs. The caption read: These are the two lawyers who were paid RM150,000 to takeover the temple. They pocketed RM135,000, and paid RM300 to each of 50 Malay thugs to takeover (sic) the temple on Sunday morning’.”
Haniff said he and Muhammad Rafique strongly condemned the false claims and urged those who spread the message to exercise caution.
“We hereby warn that we will take the necessary legal action against all or any individuals responsible for spreading these lies. We will lodge a report with the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) to launch an investigation and track down the source and parties responsible for these actions. We will not hesitate to take legal action.
“We will also be lodging a police report soon. This is not just a question of defamation but also involves national security and public well-being,” he said.