Abdul Hamid loses right to comment on police cartel issue - EAIC

EAIC said in a statement today that Abdul Hamid did not provide any evidence to support his allegations that there was a cartel within the police force during his recorded conversation with the commission.

"In addition, Abdul Hamid did not name any officer who was involved in the cartel issue and he admitted that during his tenure of IGP the issue of a cartel did not arise during any meeting involving Bukit Aman department directors.

"Abdul Hamid (also) did not take necessary action although he knew of this cartel issue since 2020, when he had the time and power to prevent it before exposing it to the media," the statement read.

EAIC issued the statement as a response to Abdul Hamid's statement that was reported by media outlets stating that the EAIC investigation results about the existence of a cartel in the police force was 'shallow' and 'untrue'.

The commission also found the former IGP should have instructed the Bukit Aman Integrity and Standard Compliance Department to conduct a detailed investigation and necessary action needed to be taken before the issue was exposed to the media.

"Instead, he did not provide a statement to the department so that the issue could be investigated and solved and he as the IGP has never brought the cartel issue up during the Police Force Commission meetings," the statement read.

The statement also stated that there were witnesses in the EAIC investigation that said the timing of Abdul Hamid's statement about the cartel just before his contract as IGP ended in May 2021 raised questions about the motive and intention behind the expose.

Besides that, the EAIC wanted to stress that Abdul Hamid refused to provide further recorded statements to explain more about the issues.

The EAIC announced in a statement last week that based on witness testimonies and documents obtained, the investigation findings into the existence of a cartel within the police force as alleged by Abdul Hamid could not be verified.