Pua barred from travelling due to investigations, says ex-Immigration boss

Petaling Jaya Utara MP Tony Pua was slapped with a travel ban last year because police were investigating him for activity detrimental to parliamentary democracy, said a former Immigration Department officer. Former director-general Datuk Seri Mustafa Ibrahim said that he received a letter from Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar stating that Pua was under investigation. "The travel ban was then issued based on the letter by the IGP," he said, in a brief affidavit filed last month which was sighted by The Malaysian Insider. The affidavit was affirmed by Mustafa as the case happened during his tenure. The current D-G is Datuk Sakim Kusmi. Mustafa said this in response to Pua's legal challenge to declare the travel ban against him unlawful and a breach of fundamental rights. Pua, in his reply to Mustafa, said police called to record a statement from him as a witness to the alleged offence on September 4. He said he went to the cops in his capacity as witness, not a suspect. When previously met outside the Federal police headquarters in Bukit Aman, Pua said police asked him about Sarawak Report editor Clare Rewcastle-Brown and former PetroSaudi International (PSI) employee Xavier Andre Justo. He added that he was called up as one of the witnesses over the 1MDB issue and was being investigated under Section 124b of the Penal Code for activity detrimental to parliamentary democracy and Section 124J of the Penal Code for receipt of document and publication detrimental to parliamentary democracy. Pua filed an application for a judicial review in August and in October obtained leave from the High Court to challenge the D-G's decision. The case has been fixed on Wednesday for the court to fix a hearing date. Pua is seeking damages for losses suffered following the restriction on his travel abroad. He said the decision to stop him from travelling abroad was arbitrary as he had not been given prior notice. He said the decision was unreasonable, unfair, a wrongful exercise of discretion and tainted with mala fide. He said since his passport was valid until 2020, he should be able to travel unhindered. Pua, who has been critical of 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), was stopped by immigration authorities from leaving the country on July 22. He was to fly to Yogyakarta, Indonesia, for work purposes when he was stopped by immigration at low-cost carrier terminal klia2 at 3.15pm. Pua was also being sued by the prime minister, who has accused him of incessantly attacking him over the Finance Ministry-owned investment firm to gain political mileage. – February 15, 2016.]]>