KUALA LUMPUR – Former PKR member Syarul Ema Rena Abu Samah’s lawyer has insisted that her client is under arrest by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), despite contrary statements by its chief commissioner, Tan Sri Azam Baki.
Lawyer Nabila Khairuddin said Syarul Ema, better known by the moniker “Ratu Naga”, has been denied access to legal representation and barred from seeing her husband by an MACC investigating officer.
“The statement by (Azam) that my client was only summoned to give (a) statement and was not arrested is untrue,” Nabila said in a message to Scoop today.
“Her (Syarul Ema’s) house was raided this morning, (after which) she was picked up and taken in an MACC car to (the anti-graft agency’s headquarters in) Putrajaya.
“This is clearly an arrest. For (Azam) to say it’s not an arrest is ridiculous and totally contrary to the facts.”
Nabila also confirmed that she is still waiting at the MACC headquarters in Putrajaya after she was refused access to Syarul Erna, who is also a TikTok content creator for Perikatan Nasional.
Earlier, Azam reportedly said the graft busters had merely “summoned” Syarul Ema to record her statement and facilitate investigations under Section 16 of the MACC Act 2009, which deals with bribery.
This came after it was reported that Syarul Ema was picked-up by MACC officers this morning after they raided her house at Jalan Klang Lama at around 9am.
In October last year, police summoned Syarul Ema for investigations into reports on social media posts allegedly slandering the prime minister’s wife and Bandar Tun Razak MP Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail.
Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Razarudin Husain confirmed that she had appeared at Bukit Aman police headquarters to record her statement but was not cooperative when answering 33 questions in the police inquiry. – February 16, 2024