The prosecution of Khairuddin Abu Hassan and lawyer Matthias Chang under Section 124L of the Penal Code for allegedly attempting to sabotage Malaysia’s banking and financial institutions is among the worst examples of malicious prosecution by the Attorney-General Tan Sri Mohd Apandi Ali to protect the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak at all costs from charges of global kleptocracy and the 1MDB scandal.

In countries which observe the rule of law and uphold the principles of good governance, both the Attorney-General and the Inspector-General of Police would have tendered a detailed public apology, if not tendered their resignation, for their gross abuses of power.

The charges preferred against Khairuddin and Chang were not only serious, but most heinous – allegedly subverting the sovereignty of the nation apart from sabotaging the banking and financial institutions of the country, which carry a heavy maximum sentence of 15 year’s jail on conviction.

How can the Attorney-General and Inspector-General of Police prefer such charges without an iota of evidence adduced in court, and what is worse, seeking to use the anti-terrorism law in earlier charging both under the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 (SOSMA), which would have allowed a person to be detained without trial for 29 days!

The egregious abuses of power by the Attorney-General and the Inspector-General of Police in preferring capital charges against Khairuddin and Chang, proven by the dropping of the charges by the Attorney-General’s Chambers and the granting of a full acquittal to both Khairuddin and Chang by the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court today raise a larger question – whether there had been other egregious abuses of power by the Attorney-General and the Inspector-General of Police to protect Najib’s premiership since the sudden change of Attorney-General in July 2015?

An Independent Prosecutor should be appointed to investigate into all egregrious abuses of power by the Attorney-General and Inspector-General of Police, going back to July 2015 when the incumbent Tan Sri Gani Patail was suddenly sacked as Attorney-General and replaced by Federal Court judge Tan Sri Mohamad Apandi.