In Sept 2018, a former Chief Justice wrote that never in the legal history of Malaysia did an AG admit he was unable to cope with the demands of the work as an AG, that he had to appoint a private lawyer to do the prosecution of a case.
The former Chief Justice was making reference to the then newly appointed AG who initially took the lead as the chief prosecutor for the case against PM6 only to withdrew from the case later saying that his responsibilities as AG took precedence.
The former Chief Justice also wrote that the AG has 8 months to prepare for the case saying deputy public prosecutors do not even get a month, let alone eight, to do so.
Reiterating that this proves his point why AGs need to be appointed from the judicial and legal service instead of those in private practice who don't have experience with handling investigation papers or prosecution.
Criticising the AG on his decision to appoint a former Federal Court judge as a deputy public prosecutor to study the investigation papers on 1MDB, the former Chief Justice also said it is uncommon for the AG to make a decision on whether to prosecute based on what someone else tells him and not studying the evidence himself when one would expect the AG himself to study the papers, assisted by the officers and make the decision himself.
Subsequent to his resignation in Feb 2020, the x AG wrote and released his memoirs, ruffling some feathers along the way.
The Judicial and Legal Service Officers’ Association (Jalsoa) was one of those whose feathers were ruffled.
In a statement, Jalsoa said that the former AG’s comment that legal officers in the AGC were government lawyers just working for a monthly salary and pension, was insulting to its members.
His successor as AG called the former AG a man who has no understanding of the public service institution on the former AG’s comments in his memoirs that AGC officers were not qualified to handle high-profile cases such as those involving former prime minister Najib Razak.
In late 2021, the then government formed a Special Task Force to look into allegations made by former AG in his autobiography.
After 9 months of work, a 800 page report apparently was presented to the Cabinet where in it, the Special Task force apparently described the former AG as someone who lacked the skills to head a huge government body such as the AGC.
If public criticisms were used as a yardstick to measure the skills and ability of the AG, the decisions by the AGC in 3 of the following cases appears that they are no better or are worse off than their predecessor.
Panned in large part by the public, questions were raised by the public on the decision by his successor as AG, which not one many will understand, let alone accept when a prima facie case has already been made out, to withdraw and discontinued the trial against the current DPM.
Even though the Attorney General’s Chambers (AGC) defended its decision to discontinue the trial by saying that the prosecution had argued for a DNAA based on “cogent” reasons, the public remains dissatisfied as the AC did not explain why the prosecution decided to withdraw all the 47 charges against the DPM.
In May 2022, citing that it will cast a bad light on capital market regulators, the Bar Council urged the AGC to explain why it decided to drop charges filed by the Securities Commission against Serba Dinamik Holdings Bhd and four of its executives and instead fine them for presenting a false statement to Bursa Malaysia.
The explanation from the AGC which was given by the then Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Parliament and Law) in a written reply in the Dewan Rakyat citing the reasons why they dropped the case which was circumstantial in nature, impact of long criminal proceedings against the future of the company, their employees' incomes which will be affected, the interests of Serba Dinamik's creditors and the overall economic impact was roundly panned by the investing public.
Events post the decision to drop the charges where Serba Dinamik was wound up by the High Courts resulted in further derision by the investing public of the AGC’s justifications for dropping the case.
In the latest episode, the High Court on 27 Nov 2024 granted former prime minister Najib and former Treasury secretary general Mohd Irwan a discharge not amounting to an acquittal (DNAA) in their criminal trial regarding International Petroleum Investment Co (IPIC) on the grounds that the prosecution did not adhere to Section 51A of the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC) and despite being charged in 2018 and trial dates set many times during the entire period, the prosecution still failed to provide the defence with certain crucial documents as requested by the defence.
The explanation by the Deputy public prosecutor (DPP) during the proceedings where he informed the court that there were about 40 documents which have yet to be declassified and that the prosecution had no control over the declassification of documents under the Official Secrets Act was again roundly panned as lame by the public.
The above cases clearly appear to support the comments by the former AG on the AGC in his memoirs and rebut the comments made by a former Chief Justice that AGs need to be appointed from the judicial and legal service as they have the experience with handling investigation papers or prosecution.
Is there a need to say more?
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