There was pandemonium this afternoon when the police barged into a meeting for the press held at the Kuala Lumpur Fire and Rescue Department headquarters in Jalan Maharajalela and stopped a senior officer from exposing alleged corrupt practices in the department.
Mohd Ali Thambi Chik, who is the KL deputy director, was in the midst of briefing reporters on his allegations involving Fire and Rescue Department director-general Jaafar Sidek Thambi when four police personnel emerged.
The police officers, who were accompanied by Mohd Ali’s immediate boss KL department director Leonard Athanasius, told the reporters that it was an “illegal meeting”.
However, when contacted later, Kuala Lumpur acting police chief Dell Akbar Khan told malaysiakini that the police were not there to stop the ‘press conference’.
“The directive did not come from the police,” Dell explained. Apparently, the order came instead from the KL fire chief, Leonard.
Malaysiakini learnt that the police went to the KL Fire and Rescue Department headquarters after receiving a complaint about the presence of a “mentally disturbed” person.
