Kuala Lumpur: Two Australian journalists who were detained in Malaysia after trying to question Prime Minister Najib Razak about corruption allegations will escape charge and be allowed to leave the country on Tuesday, their lawyer said.
Reporter Linton Besser and camera operator Louie Eroglu will leave the Malaysian city of Kuching for Singapore on Tuesday morning, attorney Albert Tang said.
"Obviously, they are relieved," Tang told AFP.
The two men, investigative journalists from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, had been ordered to appear in court on Tuesday morning, facing possible charges for obstructing a public servant.
But the appearance was abruptly cancelled and they were informed there would be no charges, Tang and ABC said.
Besser and Eroglu were detained overnight Saturday after they crossed a security line and "aggressively tried to approach the prime minister", Malaysian police said.
They were released Sunday but initially barred from leaving Malaysia.
Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop on Monday had expressed concern at their detention.
They had been reporting on multiple scandals swirling around Najib, including the murky 2006 murder of a Mongolian woman by two of his bodyguards, who have been sentenced to death over the killing.
Najib, who was defence minister at the time, denies involvement.
Government critics have long alleged that the bodyguards, members of a police unit that protects top ministers, were scapegoats in the killing of Altantuya Shaariibuu.
She was at the centre of alleged huge kickbacks in the $1.1 billion 2002 purchase of French submarines.
Najib, 62, is also battling separate accusations that billions of dollars were stolen from a state-owned fund he founded, and over his own admitted acceptance of a mysterious $681 million overseas payment.
Besser had questioned Najib over the payment as he walked into a mosque in Kuching on Borneo island on Saturday night.
Najib and the state firm deny any wrongdoing, but he has curbed investigations, purged ruling-party critics over the financial scandals, and his government has pressured media outlets reporting on them.
AFP
