KUALA LUMPUR – Police will record former attorney-general Tan Sri Mohamed Apandi Ali’s statement tomorrow, after several police reports were lodged against the latter over his involvement in the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) financial scandal.
According to Royal Malaysia Police secretary Datuk Noorsiah Mohd Saaduddin, the case is being investigated by the Bukit Aman Classified Crimes Investigation Unit and the Criminal Investigation Department.
“The Royal Malaysia Police will record Apandi’s statement tomorrow (August 1) at 2:30pm,” Noorsiah said in a statement today.
The probe is being conducted under Section 217 of the Penal Code, which stipulates that any public servant who knowingly disobeys the direction of the law as to how he is supposed to conduct himself, with the intention to save any person from legal punishment, is to be found guilty of an offence.
The offence carries a maximum punishment of two years’ imprisonment or a fine.
On Friday (July 29), investigation papers into Apandi’s alleged misconduct were opened, with police saying that the probe will focus on the abuse of his power “to save a person from punishment”.
The investigation follows a report filed by Klang MP Charles Santiago on Wednesday (July 27) alleging that Apandi had fabricated information and lied while in office to save former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak from legal action.
The DAP lawmaker had also called on the government to immediately separate the roles of the attorney-general and public prosecutor to avoid similar cases of abuse of power in the future.
This follows the Kuala Lumpur High Court’s July 22 decision to dismiss a defamation suit filed by Apandi against DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang over a 2019 article, after finding the former lied over several claims made in the past.
In her judgement, judge Datuk Azimah Omar had said Apandi appeared disinterested and self-contradictory when testifying, and that the latter overtly showed disinterest and indifference to the elementary rule of law and common sense.
Last week, Lim had labelled Apandi as the “worst attorney-general in the nation’s history” and took issue with the role Apandi played in arranging a meeting between a representative of fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho and the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC).
On July 16, Apandi said that after he was contacted in May this year by Kobre & Kim, the law firm representing Low, he had arranged a series of meetings to discuss returning funds their client had allegedly taken from the national sovereign fund 1MDB.
In an earlier statement, the AGC said that it had rejected all offers made by Low to settle his charges with the government and confirmed that the offers were made this year via a representative. – The Vibes, July 31, 2022
