By Lourdes Charles and Teh Eng Hock

PUTRAJAYA, MALAYSIA - The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) has directed all its offices nationwide to stop recording statements from witnesses after office hours with immediate effect.

Director of investigations Datuk Mohd Shukri Abdull said he issued a directive on Monday, calling on all investigators interviewing witnesses to ensure they started and stopped their interviews during office hours only - which is from 8.30am to 5.30pm.

"We urge people who want to lodge reports with us or who want to give us their statements to come to the MACC office in the early morning or afternoon to avoid any inconvenience."

He added that if a person lodged a report on a Friday evening, his statement could only be recorded on Monday, the next working day.

"It is not that we do not want to entertain the public at their convenience but we have to adhere to the court ruling that forbids us from interviewing witness after office hours," he said.

Last week, High Court judge Justice Mohamad Ariff Md Yusof declared in a landmark ruling that witnesses could only be questioned from 8.30am to 5.30pm each day.

The ruling was made following a lawsuit brought by Kajang municipal councillor Tan Boon Wah challenging MACC's interrogation procedures.

Meanwhile, in Kuala Lumpur, veteran lawyer Karpal Singh said crime suspects and witnesses could get off the hook if the police interrogated them after office hours.

Karpal Singh said there was a precedent in 1983, when Rahmat Satiman, who was jointly charged with former Culture, Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Mokhtar Hashim for the murder of Negri Sembilan state assembly Speaker Datuk Mohamad Taha Talib, walked free after the Federal Court accepted his appeal.