Police have not ruled out possibility of conspiracy to topple Najib - IGP

Police have not eliminated the possibility of a conspiracy to subvert Malaysia's democratic process and topple the Prime Minister, with regard to the criminal act of leaking classified documents to foreign nationals.

Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar said these criminal acts were very serious and raised national security implications.

He said the Attorney-General had instructed a full investigation to be carried out on the act of leaking classified documents, where these materials were alleged to be from an unnamed Malaysian government investigation into 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).

"In addition, the Royal Malaysia Police have also received police reports related to this matter. We are therefore duty bound to conduct a full and independent investigation," he said in a statement here today.

He said the investigation would include investigating all members of the Special Task Force, who included Bank Negara personnel, to uphold the integrity of the inquiry and trust in Malaysia's financial system. Khalid had previously denied that the police are investigating three senior Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) officers for allegedly leaking confidential information to the media.

"The leakage of information, whether the documents have been doctored or otherwise, could trigger offences under the Financial Services Act 2013 (Sections 133, 248, 249 and 250), the Islamic Financial Services Act 2013 (Section 145), the Official Secret Acts 1972 (Sections 3, 4, 7A, 7B, 8, 11 and 14), the Penal Code involving sections under Chapter XL for false and fabricated evidence and criminal defamation in Sections 499 to 502 and could constitute economic sabotage against Malaysia.

"Anyone found guilty of leaking or doctoring the said documents will face the full force of law," he added.

Khalid said the objective of the police investigation was to identify those who had leaked the material, and determine whether these documents were genuine or had been doctored, as in the case of Xavier Justo, the former PetroSaudi International (PSI) executive who is now being investigated by the Thai authorities for blackmail and extortion.

The Thai police were reported to have detained Justo last June 24 for allegedly attempting to blackmail PSI, an international company based in Saudi Arabia which had drawn attention in Malaysia as it had established ties with 1MDB.