Archive for June 1st, 2018

Something very wrong with constitutional check-and balance when Attorney-General can hold the country to hostage refusing to resign when there is a change of government and when he enjoys zero public confidence

Something is very wrong with the constitutional check-and-balance system when the Attorney-General can hold the country to hostage refusing to resign when there is a change of government and when he enjoys zero public confidence.

This is why New Malaysia is entering the fourth week without one of the most important officials – the Attorney-General – especially at a time when there must be far-reaching structural and institutional reforms in the country to reset nation-building policies and directions.

The Amanah MP for Sepang, Hanipa Maidin, is right that the power accorded to the attorney-general to determine not to initiate criminal proceedings cannot protect the latter if he is found to have abused that discretion in order to protect criminals.

Whether Tan Sri Mohamad Apandi Ali is liable to criminal prosecution for misusing his discretionary powers as Attorney-General is however a very different question from the issue of his resignation as Attorney-General when there is a change of Government in a general election, especially when it is clear that apart from the former Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, the Attorney-General himself had been given a thumping vote of no confidence by the electorate.

The recent revelation by the new Chief Commissioner of Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, Mohd Shukri Abdull that the MACC and the United States’ Department of Justice’ (DOJ) investigations into the 1MDB scandal are “almost similar” has restored the relevance, legitimacy and soundness of the US DOJ litigation on the 1MDB international money-laundering scam and further undermined Apandi Ali’s position and credibility. Read the rest of this entry »

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