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By P Gunasegaram
Consider this irony: Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, less than a week after he was inexplicably given a discharge not amounting to an acquittal (DNAA) on 47 corruption and related charges, announced that a list of names for the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) on a former attorney-general will be submitted to the King soon.
Malaysiakini reported that Ahmad Zahid said the name list will be tabled by the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reform) Azalina Othman Said to the cabinet.
"I feel that the minister of law and institutional reform should submit a name list to the cabinet to get the consent of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong for this RCI to speed up their work," he said.
Given the rather strange circumstances of his own case where a deputy public prosecutor asked for the withdrawal of the charges against him, would it not be more appropriate, urgent and relevant to form an RCI to investigate why this has happened instead of Thomas’ book?
And investigate too the the other instances of withdrawals of prosecution, poor or non-existent appeals, and discharges of those accused of corruption, money laundering and related charges. Many of them are from the most corrupt political party this country has ever seen - Umno Baru.
Examples include key members of Umno such as its former federal territories minister Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor, current Deputy Finance Minister Ahmad Maslan, former Sabah deputy chief minister Bung Moktar Radin, Baling MP Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim, former Negeri Sembilan menteri besar Isa Samad, former Sabah chief minister Musa Aman, and Zahid himself on other charges involving a foreign visa system.
For an excellent explanation of many of these cases and the ongoing controversies over DNAAs and other discharges view Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 of the video series by lawyer GK Ganesan.
On top of this, the appeal by the prosecution against the dismissal of charges against Najib and former 1MDB CEO Arul Kanda Kandasamy was turned down Tuesday because of an unexplainable lapse by the AG’s chambers over the process by not filing the appeal on time.
Surely instead of investigating a small aspect of a memoir where Thomas supposedly discussed with the then PM the appointment of judges, these latest developments are rather more serious in nature and more deserving of an investigation by an RCI. After all, the AG has an advisory role to the government and the PM under the constitution.
It was under Thomas’ tenure as AG from 2018 to 2020 that a plethora of cases were investigated, not by Thomas but the enforcement agencies, and then prosecuted by the AG’s office headed by Thomas who played an exemplary role to bring them to justice. Ex-PM Najib Razak, whom Ahmad Zahid’s Umno wants freed, now languishes in jail as a result.
An RCI should first investigate if Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reform) Azalina Othman Said was conflicted when she pushed for the formation of the RCI to investigate Thomas’ book.
This is because Azalina is from Umno, served in Najib’s cabinet before, is a staunch supporter of the convict despite his conviction as well as Ahmad Zahid. She is therefore likely to support any move which will cast aspersions on Najib’s trial and conviction.
The situation of other Umno politicians, some of whom have been DNAA-ed, some had charges withdrawn by the AG and some had cases dismissed, will pose similar conflicts for Azalina who as law minister could influence policy and decisions here.
With such conflicts present, it is indeed a rather surprising and questionable decision that Azalina of all people was chosen by PM Anwar Ibrahim to be in charge of law and institutional reform. This position should not have been held by an Umno politician given the number of cases of corruption and other charges Umno politicians were facing.
Both the current AG and his predecessor should be investigated by an RCI to explain how they came to this decision to ask for DNAAs when the cases were so long advanced and when there was so much time available to investigate further.
There is a clear need to establish that there was absolutely no political interference in the decisions taken. This can only be ascertained by an impartial and exhaustive investigation.
Under current circumstances a well chosen RCI is the best way forward either to establish culpability or to rule it out. Otherwise the public is likely to remain highly skeptical of the reasons so far given for questionable actions by the AG’s chambers and the minister in charge.
(P Gunasegaram says for justice to be done and seen to be done, someone needs to watch over the independence and integrity of the judicial system. Right now, no one seems to be.)
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