KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 14 — PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang is guilty of complicity for instructing Nik Mohamad Abduh Nik Aziz to lie about an audio recording implicated in a bribery scandal, a former party lawyer said.
Deputy Minister Mohamed Hanipa Maidin said in law, Hadi can be seen as the accomplice to the principal offender, in this case Nik Abduh who confessed to lying when he denied that he was the man in the recording.
“In law, both parties are guilty... a principal offender and the accomplice,” the Amanah leader said in a Facebook posting last night.
“People will also say they are partners in crime. Even in religion it is wrong... to lie and to encourage people to lie. Regardless of how holy that person is.”
Yesterday, Nik Abduh went on record to say Hadi had given his “blessings” for him to deny the audio recording.
Nik Abduh said he had initially wanted to admit that he was the man in the recording. The PAS leader was said to have been caught on tape talking about receiving millions of ringgit from rival Umno.
He later lied about it because he thought detractors would use the recording against PAS.
Hanipa also criticised Nik Abduh for raising his dead father’s name in self-defence, calling the move “disgusting”.
“To drag a dead man’s name is extremely unfair. How can the deceased defend himself?” He said.
Nik Abduh claimed that his father, the late PAS spiritual adviser Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat, had also lied in the past in order to protect party secrets, Malaysiakini reported.
The Pasir Mas MP was heavily criticised for it.
