Khalid admits knowing Gopi

The Inspector-General of Police, Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar admitted today knowing Gopinathan Krishnan, the man allegedly collected bribes to protect illegal gambling centres and massage parlours in Melaka.

Khalid said that he and his family members were all known to the man, named Gopinathan Krishnan in a report by London-based Sarawak Report, but also said that he would never be in conspiracy with any criminals operating illegal activities.

“People who know me and my family members, if they are involved in any illegal activities, they have to answer for it. n this case, if he (Gopi) has done any illegal thing, me and my officers will give full cooperation to SPRM in this probe. If they are involved in any illegal activities, they would have to answer for themselves,” Khalid told reporters in a media press conference after launching “Op Selamat 11/2017” here today.

Khalid said, many have his contact numbers and he could not stop those who want to contact him including unknown numbers.

He was responding to claims made by Sarawak Report that the suspect is acquainted with Khalid’s son and brother-in-law.

Gopi was arrested by the MACC together with five other individuals on May 22 following the arrest of 12 suspects largely consist of members and police who were suspected of corruption, last month.

The whitsleblower site also had reported that several middle men were detained in a recent anti-corruption operation in Melaka for allegedly controlling the operations of illegal businesses in the state on behalf of several police figures at the police headquarters in Bukit Aman.

Sarawak Report said that the special MACC operation which saw many police officers detained for corruption was aptly named ‘Ops Gopi’, in reference to Gopinathan.

The MACC has arrested 13 individuals since last month, including two district police chiefs, in a corruption investigation on police officers who allegedly collected 'protection money' from the operators of illegal gambling centres and massage parlours in the state.