Inspector says he was asked to change statement, promised a post, court told

A police inspector has told the court he was allegedly asked to change his statement, with the promise of being placed under a witness protection programme and given a post, but refused because he maintained his statement was true.

Usman Lanaga, 46, testified as the third plaintiff witness in the trial of a RM190 million civil suit filed against a former senior officer and intelligence personnel of Esscom, along with 11 other defendants, before Judicial Commissioner Steve Ritikos.

During examination-in-chief by plaintiff's counsel Sharatha Masyaroh John Ridwan Lincon, the witness said he was serving as operations intelligence officer 2 at Esscom at the time of the incident before being transferred to the Keningau district police headquarters (IPD) after his second remand. He now heads the narcotics criminal investigation division at IPD Keningau.

He said that on Jan 25, 2023, he and several Esscom personnel were ordered to be at the office from early morning before Mat Zaki was detained, followed by a raid by a group of police officers in full tactical gear and armed, who detained him and several others.

After being taken to IPD Lahad Datu and then transferred to IPD Tawau, he was questioned by several police officers who he alleged repeatedly pressed him to link Mat Zaki to the murder of an e-hailing driver.

Usman said he denied any knowledge of the incident and informed them that when the murder was alleged to have taken place on Jan 13, 2023, he was in Kuala Lumpur on leave since Jan 5, returning to Sabah on Jan 16, 2023. After that explanation, the investigating team checked closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage at his hotel, which allegedly confirmed he was in Kuala Lumpur on that date.

The witness also claimed that during his second remand at IPD Semporna, he was taken to IPD Tawau to meet former Criminal Investigation Department (CID) director Abdul Jalil Hassan, who he said told him he was there on the mandate of the then inspector-general of police before allegedly asking him to change his statement. He said he still refused, as he did not want to implicate anyone without basis.

Under cross-examination, Senior Federal Counsel Zetty Zurina Kamarudin challenged the claims, suggesting they were untrue and stressing that the witness had never lodged a police report or official complaint with the authorities over the allegations, Berita Harian reported. Usman rejected the suggestion, saying he did not lodge a report because he was traumatised, under stress and worried about his safety.

Zetty also put it to him that the claims of an offer of protected witness status, a transfer of post, threats and the remark "strong or not strong, charge first" were hearsay, baseless and an afterthought.