Zeti’s 1MDB testimony in court indicates ‘dereliction of duty’ by Apandi – Dr M

KUALA LUMPUR: Settling the lawsuit outside of court involving former Attorney General Tan Sri Apandi Ali by the government does not reflect the country’s legal sovereignty well.

Former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad once again emphasises that Apandi’s dismissal was not done wrongfully based on the accusation of ‘dereliction of duty’ committed by the former Attorney General.

Dr Mahathir stated that this was proven through the testimony of the former Governor of Bank Negara Tan Sri Zeti Akhtar Aziz in the High Court on July 28, related to the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) case.

In her statement, Zeti mentioned that despite a substantial amount of evidence being collected and recorded by the Central Bank of Malaysia (Bank Negara Malaysia or BNM), the then Attorney General (Apandi) on unknown grounds, decided on Sept 11, 2015, to classify the Investigation Paper (IP) as No Further Action (NFA).

Dr Mahathir expressed his astonishment after reading media reports about Zeti’s statement.

“Zeti stated that she had reported to the Attorney General at that time, which was Apandi, about the wrongdoing of 1MDB staff. However, the Attorney General did not take any action. It’s as if it’s negligence of duty,” he said in a statement today.

On July 28, Zeti, while giving her testimony in the High Court, stated that BNM had submitted the Investigation Paper (IP) to the Attorney General’s Chambers (AGC) with a recommendation to initiate criminal prosecution and charge 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), including its officials.

Dr Mahathir further said he was prepared to go to court to explain why Apandi needed to be removed from his position as the Attorney General.

“Another example of Apandi’s wrong decision is dismissing all cases against Najib (former Prime Minister), but when another Attorney General brought Najib’s case to court, three courts and nine judges found Najib guilty.

“It's clear that Apandi, as the Attorney General, did not thoroughly review the case before declaring that Najib had no case to answer," he explained.

Dr Mahathir claimed that this once again showed Apandi's neglect of duty.

However, Dr Mahathir said that when Apandi sued the government and him, the government agreed to settle the case out of court and provided Apandi with an undisclosed sum of money to drop his lawsuit.

In other words, Dr Mahathir claimed that the government seemed to agree that Apandi's dismissal was wrongful.

"I was not involved in that settlement. I disagree that I had wrongly dismissed Apandi. But now, reports that he failed to take action on the Bank Negara's report prove that he did not perform his duties as the Attorney General. Thus, this justified his dismissal as the Attorney General."

“An Attorney General being compensated with an undisclosed sum of money does not reflect the country's legal sovereignty well," he clarified.

On Oct 13, 2020, Apandi filed a lawsuit naming Dr Mahathir and the government as defendants, which sought, among other things, a declaration that the termination of his contract as the Attorney General by the former Prime Minister was invalid.

However, on Feb 15, the government agreed to an out-of-court settlement for the lawsuit and classified it as confidential under the Official Secrets Act 1972 (Act 88). - AWANI