Malaysian Bar president Steven Thiru has described attorney-general Mohamed Apandi Ali’s move to clear Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak of any wrongdoing as “unsustainable in law”.
“The decision of the attorney-general to exonerate the prime minister of any criminal offence appears to be unsustainable in law.
“The decision seems premature, lacking in facts, bereft of particulars, and founded on questionable or inadequate reasons,” Thiru said in a statement this evening… He added that Apandi’s revelation when clearing Najib that US$620 million of the money was “returned” to the donor had only raised more questions.
1) Who specifically donated the US$681 million to Najib between March 22 and April 10, 2013?
2) What was the purpose of the “donation”?
3) If purpose is not identified, is it proper to conclude no criminal offence was committed?
4) Was Bank Negara or MACC notified of the repatriation of US$620 million?
5) What happened to the balance US$61 million?
6) If the manner in which the US$61 million was utilised by Najib has not been ascertained, how can corruption be ruled out?
7) What is the exact sum transferred from SRC International to Najib’s accounts as there were reports of RM41 million followed by another RM27 million.
8) Who gave the approval for the SRC International transfers into Najib’s bank accounts, what was the purpose and how was the account numbers obtained?
Thiru noted that in the case of the SRC International transfers, Apandi had cleared Najib by claiming the prime minister had no knowledge of them and was under the impression that they were all part of the US$681 million donation.
“This finding appears implausible, as RM27 million from SRC was reportedly transferred into the prime minister’s personal bank accounts on July 8, 2014, which was after the balance of US$620 million of the purported donation had been returned in August 2013,” he said.
Malaysia’s top lawyers are making plain that this AG will find it hard to mount a credible prosecution against any wrong-doer in Malaysia after letting off the PM in the face of so much evidence.
As such the basic function of government is now in in question, because the leadership simply is not credible.
Meanwhile, leading lawyer Zaid Ibrahim has taken a step further and is testing the matter by calling for a judicial review. Both cases are argued with devastating clarity and conclude that the Attorny General has violated the constitution and abused his powers.
In short, the Prime Minister has now turned the legal establishment and the Anti-Corruption Commission against his government – and of course most of the population as well.
He is trying, through his ministers to claim that through the AG he has arbitrary and dictatorial powers to administer justice as he pleases, in order to suit himself – we see him prosecuting opposition and civil society figures for ridiculous drummed up offences, while letting himself off blatant monster charges of grand theft.
Meanwhile, another doughty character Khairuddin Abu Hassan, is pointing out that his own prosecution by the AG was unconstitutional, because this AG had been appointed by a Prime Minister who had just unconstitutionally sacked the previous AG, which he had no right to do.
Hassan points out that the method by which the previous AG was sacked for “health reasons” was procedurally flawed, even if the AG had been ill, which he was not.
How long can this madness in Malaysia last and how far are the paid-off UMNO loyalists willing to descend the country into chaos, in order to protect a man who has been paying them millions from public pension money he claims he thought was ‘donated’ from an anonymous donor?