KUALA LUMPUR – Former attorney-general Tan Sri Mohamed Apandi Ali today spent more than an hour having his statement taken by Bukit Aman in relation to a 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) case.
Royal Malaysia Police secretary Datuk Noorsiah Mohd Saaduddin said that Apandi’s statement was recorded by the Criminal Investigation Department’s Special Investigation Unit.
“The statement was taken by the investigation department and started at 2.30pm to 3.45pm today.
“The investigation is related to developments regarding dissatisfaction with the investigation of 1MDB,” she said in a statement.
Dozens of journalists waited for hours at the entrance of Bukit Aman until 4pm but did not see Apandi go in.
The Vibes’ Bahasa Malaysia portal Getaran was told that his statement was taken elsewhere. However, Bukit Aman did not reveal to the media where the statement was taken.
This follows a police report lodged by Klang MP Charles Santiago.
The investigation 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.
Last Friday, 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 Santiago on 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.
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, August 1, 2022
