PETALING JAYA: A probe has been initiated by the Attorney General’s Chambers (AGC) over the uploading of sealed court documents on Telegram relating to Rumah Bonda founder Siti Bainun Ahd Razali.
According to New Straits Times (NST), the group named, ‘video leaked bainun bella’, that has garnered thousands of subscribers since early this week, was used to upload confidential court documents related to the case, including several videos of court recording transcription (CRT) of witnesses who testified during the trial.
The leaked video also contained a snippet of the victim Bella testifying in court uploaded to the group chat.
Attorney General Tan Sri Idris Harun told the local daily that the AGC was aware of the Telegram group’s existence, and that a police report had been lodged regarding the contents uploaded in the chat group.
“We have directed the police to investigate, and submit their findings to AGC,“ he said.
The sealed court documents were strictly confidential, said Lawyer Datuk Khairul Anwar Rahmat, who appeared as the watching brief for Tunku Mahkota of Johor Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim.
Khairul was reported to have said that the CRT videos (which are recordings of complete court trial proceedings) can only be accessed by three parties which are the defence counsels, prosecutors and watching brief lawyers by way of application to the court.
“Applicants are required to sign a Letter of Undertaking saying that the videos are to be used for referral purposes only and cannot be spread to the public,“ he said.
The news report further reported that other confidential contents uploaded in the Telegram group are scanned documents of a screenshot message thread between Zurianty Sudin, who appeared as one of the prosecution witnesses in the trial, with other individuals.
It is also believed that the group had uploaded similar documents involving a message thread between another prosecution witness Yasmin Nahar Mahmood with the founder.
The group which had started to garner subscribers since it was created in December last year had been actively sending messages to subscribers to spread the group invitation links to the public, in exchange for more confidential documents to be uploaded in the group.
Its founder, Siti Bainun, 31, has been sentenced to a 10 year jail term for the offence of neglect, and a 12 year jail term for abuse after being found guilty by the sessions court.