DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang yesterday took a swipe at the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) in Parliament for its treatment of a Malay Mail journalist who had reported on the Kampung Perepat land-grab issue.

Lim described MACC's decision to question the reporter, Nevash Nair, for almost four hours, and the confiscation of his laptop and handphone as "ridiculous".

He claimed that the action was tantamount to harassment and "showed no respect to the Fourth Estate".

Speaking in the Dewan Rakyat during the question and answer session yesterday morning, Lim said the action was unacceptable.

The MACC had lodged a police report against Kapar Member of Parliament S. Manikavasagam for what it had termed as "slanderous statement" in relation to his claim that a Selangor MACC officer had allegedly told him that the files related to four reports lodged in relation to the land-grab case had gone missing.

Manikavasagam, who had lodged a fifth report on June 19, had claimed that the officer had informed him of the purportedly missing files in the presence of several pioneers of the Kampung Perepat Green Revolution scheme in Kapar, Klang, who claimed to have been displaced from their Temporary Occupation Licences (TOL) plots by a Datuk.

Manikavasagam's claim was reported by Malay Mail and two other Tamil dailies.

Following this, the Selangor MACC had hauled up Nevash on June 22.  He had gone to the Selangor MACC office in Shah Alam at 8pm and left around 2am after his statement was taken down. His laptop and handphone were confiscated.

One of the pioneers, V. Nedumaran, who also gave his statement on the same day, corroborated Manikavasagam's claim that a female officer had informed the Kapar MP of the missing files.

Manikavasagam had said that he was standing by his claims as reported by Malay Mail.

MACC's action had earned it a volley of criticism from various quarters, including the National Union of Journalists (NUJ). NUJ president Norila Mohd Daud had said that the officers had "overstepped their boundaries" by confiscating the reporter's laptop and handphone.

No comments have been forthcoming from the MACC on the progress of its investigations into the land-grab claim.

The Selangor government, however, has initiated its own probe that covers, among others, how the Datuk had managed to transfer the titles of the TOL plots into his name and that of his relatives and business associates within 24 hours.