Thesun 2009-04-01 Page01 Umno Leaders Under Probe

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No. 4728 PP 2644/12/2009 (023092)

Wednesday April 1, 2009

TELLING IT AS IT IS

SHAH ALAM: Two women who possessed 520 pirated video discs felt the full weight of the law yesterday when a Sessions Court fined them RM1.04 million each. Ng Shuk Kuen and Wong Chooi Fun, who is five months pregnant, were seen crying at the end of the proceedings as they could not pay the fines and would have to spend five months in prison. The women, both aged 27, were found guilty under the Copyright Act 1987 for possessing the discs at Ong Laser, Jalan Maxwell, Rawang, on Dec 23, 2005. They were punished under Section 41(1)(i) of the Copyright Act 2003 which provides for a fine of between RM2,000 and RM20,000 for each infringing copy or imprisonment not exceeding five years or both. Judge Azimah Omar said the court had to put public interest above that of the accused although one of them was pregnant. The defence’s request for release on bond could not be considered because piracy was rampant, she said. “It is very clear that the punishment provided under the Act reflects the seriousness of the offence and the country is We don’t want our flooded with infringing copies being country to sold in the open be said as market. “We don’t want not serious our country to be in tackling said as not serious piracy cases in tackling piracy and we also cases and we also don’t want don’t want our country to be called our country as a copyright into be called centre. as a copyright fringement “Moreover, efinfringement forts to eradicate need to be done to centre.” – Judge Azimah Omar ensure the stability of our country’s economy and therefore each accused is fined RM2,000 for each infringing copy owned or five months’ jail in default. Defence lawyer Wan Zainuddin Wan Musa sought a stay, saying that his clients could not afford the fine but the judge dismissed the application. – Bernama

Umno leaders under probe KUALA LUMPUR: Several Umno leaders, including those newly elected, are being investigated for alleged involvement in money politics in the run-up to the party’s general assembly last week. Party disciplinary board member Tan Sri Megat Najmuddin Megat Khas said yesterday that the probe was carried out by officers of the board’s investigation unit.

“I don’t have the details but I am made to understand that there are indeed investigations being carried out on a number of cases, including on those holding top posts,” he said after tabling a working paper at the “Anti-Corruption Summit – Zero Tolerance for Corruption” organised by the Asian Strategy and Leadership Institute and Transparency In-

ternational Malaysia. Megat Najmuddin said he was not directly involved in the investigation because board members could not be the investigators, prosecutors and jurists. He said action would be taken on anyone found to have breached party discipline. “If we have proof, we will call them to testify but we need strong

Face-to-face… With 15 candidates vying for the Bukit Selambau state seat, it was no surprise that two of them bumped into each other yesterday. PKR’s S. Manikumar (left) and independent T. Chandrarajan exchanged pleasantries and flyers during a walkabout in Taman Ria market, Sungai Petani. Reports inside.

MASRY CHE ANI/THESUN

Women fined RM2m for video piracy

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evidence; otherwise it will be difficult for us to act,” he said. He also said that there was nothing wrong with treating a person to a meal or paying for someone’s fuel as long as there was no ulterior motive in doing so. “The amount of bribe is not important. The measure of culpability lies in the intention. If you give RM50 to buy votes, it is political corruption or money politics,” he said. He also welcomed Umno vice-president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin’s proposal to restructure the disciplinary board to strengthen it. “This is a good suggestion as we don’t have enough manpower. Umno is a big party with over three million members, so we need to increase our capacity accordingly,” he said. Earlier when tabling his working paper entitled “Conflicts of Interest – The Latent Part of Corruption”, Megat Najmuddin said it was important that the board was free of interference from party leaders. “We have retired from politics and we have no more interest in it. At a meeting with the powers-thatbe in the party, we told them that if you interfere, we will resign en bloc,” he said. Describing political corruption as “the mother of all corruption”, he said the people could still take comfort from the fact that corruption at the moment was “only a fact of life and not a way of life”. He outlined five aspects needed to combat corruption, namely better enforcement, better pay for government servant, lesser bureaucracy, transparency in political funding, and continuous anti-corruption education. He also said that being the adviser to several universities, he found that corrupt practices were also taking place in institutions of higher learning. “These includes plagiarism, and in awarding contracts,” he said, adding that the trend was a cause for concern at a time when universities were heading towards greater autonomy. – Bernama