I said yesterday that the Azimah judgement in Mohamed Apandi’s defamation suit against me has shown that Apandi is the worst Attorney-General in the nation’s history, as up till today, he has failed to account for his multiple failures, like his failure to explain why:
· he absolved and exonerated Najib Razak in the 1MDB scandal;
· he accepted the “fantastical” donation narrative without evidence;
· he closed investigations on the 1MDB scandal against advice of MACC and his own internal task force;
· he refused either to accept or offer mutual legal assistance from the Swiss Attorney-General and the US Department of Justice to investigate the 1MDB scandal.
I also asked whether Apandi was capable of defending himself from the charge of being the worst Attorney-General in Malaysian history, but there was only thunderous silence on Apandi’s part in the past 24 hours.
One consequence of the Azimah judgement is that Apandi should refund the millions he had extracted from the government to settle his lawsuit against the government for terminating his AG contract as he had failed the country as the worst AG in the nation’s history.
On October 13, 2020, Apandi filed the lawsuit against Dr Mahathir Mohamad and the federal government, seeking for court declarations that his dismissal as attorney general was unlawful and not in compliance with the Federal Constitution.
In the lawsuit, Apandi had also sought for general damages, exemplary or punitive damages, as well as RM2,233,599.36 in special damages.
In detailing the particulars of the special damages of over RM2.23 million that he was seeking, Apandi had listed these as including loss of remuneration totalling RM1,285,213.68 from July 27, 2018 to July 26, 2021 (or RM35,700.38 in monthly remuneration over 36 months or three years).
Apandi had previously served as a Federal Court judge, and was appointed as attorney general for a three-year term from July 27, 2015 to July 26, 2018.
In his lawsuit, Apandi said the chief secretary of the government had in an April 6, 2018 letter informed him that the Agong had on March 3, 2018 consented to his appointment as attorney general again from July 27, 2018 onwards.
Apandi had also said he had accepted his reappointment as AG through a May 7, 2018 letter sent to the chief secretary of the government, but said his service as AG was later cut short after Dr Mahathir became prime minister from May 10, 2018.
Apandi had claimed that Dr Mahathir had instructed the chief secretary of the government to convey the instructions for Apandi to take a 30-day unrecorded leave from May 14, 2018 until June 14, 2018, and that the chief secretary of the government had in a June 5, 2018 letter notified him that the Yang di-Pertuan Agong had consented to the termination of his appointment as the attorney general.
The government, in its defence, said any decision to terminate the contract was carried out according to the law and that Mahathir did not play any role in the termination of Apandi’s contract.
But five days before the hearing of the case on 18th April 2022, the government and Apandi reached a settlement without the knowledge or consent of Mahathir.
As pointed out by P. Ramakrishnan of Aliran, it was most improper for the present Attorney-General to settle Apandi’s suit, and for the terms of the settlement to be kept secret from the taxpayers.
Horror of horrors, Apandi had not only failed to explain why he absolved and exonerated Najib Razak in the 1MDB scandal when he was Attorney-General, he recently acted for one of the two creators of the 1MDB scandal, Jho Low, who wanted to reach a settlement with the government over the 1MDB charges against him with a RM1.5 billion offer.
It is to be noted that for the past decade of the 1MDB scandal, Najib had never condemned Jho Low for the 1MDB scandal. Can Najib explain why?
Can Apandi explain the legal, ethical and monetary basis for his acting for Jho Loh after he had “absolved and exonerated” Najib of the 1MDB scandal?
(Media Statement by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Parliament on Tuesday, July 26, 2022)