Thomas: MACC to give us more info on 1MDB
KUALA LUMPUR: The Attorney General’s Chambers will be receiving more investigation papers related to the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) case, said its chief Tommy Thomas.
He said this was promised by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).
He said it was too soon to comment on SRC International, but 1MDB was certainly “down the road”.
“Can I just state the obvious that when we mention 1MDB, it is a shorthand statement to describe what happened over four to five years.
“There are discreet separate transactions over the period which is with the public domain, which the DOJ (Department of Justice) has detailed.
“There are different transactions and episodes over a long period of time and I would expect MACC to look at it that way,” Thomas said.
On the Bar Council’s statement that the 1MDB task force had no legal standing to arrest Najib on Tuesday, Thomas said the prosecution’s understanding was that it was MACC’s role.
“I have no comments as far as the task force is concerned. You have to ask the task force,” he said.
Commenting on the same matter in another press conference, Najib’s lead counsel Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah said he agreed with the Bar Council.
“I don’t know what the task force is doing. There is no such thing as a task force that should advise the AG.
“Under Article 145(3) (of the Federal Constitution), the AG has his sole discretion. Nobody can question him, not even the court.
“But now it seems that based on what the Bar Council has been saying, the AG is being dictated by a task force of four men,” said Muhammad Shafee, adding that he was “disturbed” by this as it was unconstitutional and “totally illegal”.
He said the four members of the task force were those from the previous regime who had conducted investigations and people who were already “tainted” in some way.
“I’m not saying they are tainted in a bad way. They may have a prejudgment. Why are these people in the task force advising the AG? I have not seen anything like this before.
“During Najib’s administration, I remember Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail set up a task force and an opinion was given to the prime minister that a task force set up without the sanction of the Cabinet is illegal.
“Under Article 145(2), any special task to be given to the AG must be given by the prime minister or through another minister. It must be sanctioned by a member of the government,” he said.
Pergerakan Malaysiaku Tanahairku president Raggie Jessy also questioned the legal standing of the task force probing the 1MDB scandal in ordering Najib’s arrest.
Raggie said it was not empowered to issue arrest orders and the case against Najib was vague.
In a press conference outside the courthouse while the proceedings were ongoing, he raised concerns on “possible elements of vengeance and conspiracy” between MACC chief commissioner Datuk Seri Mohd Shukri Abdull and former Bank Negara governor Tan Sri Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz.
“I filed a police report on June 13 against Mohd Shukri and Zeti that there may be an element of conspiracy between them to topple Najib.
“I haven’t been informed about whether an investigation paper has been opened, but I will follow through on it as I want justice to prevail,” he said.