Mat Zain: Charge Gani Patail, not change A-G’s powers
(The Malaysian Insider) – Taking away the Attorney-General’s power to prosecute will not stop abuses of power, a former senior police officer said today.
Former Kuala Lumpur CID chief Datuk Mat Zain Ibrahim said that there was nothing wrong with the functions of the A-G as defined by the Federal Constitution, and charged that it was Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail who had abused his powers as the current A-G “several times over.”
“We should not blame the Constitution. It’s the honesty of the person holding the post that matters.
“Even if we were to separate the functions of the A-G and the PP, there are no guarantees that either one or both of them will not abuse their powers,” Mat Zain wrote in an open letter to The Malaysian Insider.
Mat Zain was referring to Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz’s recent remarks supporting calls to separate the functions of the A-G.
In Malaysia, the A-G is the principal legal adviser to the government and also serves as the country’s highest-ranking public prosecutor.
The former policeman continued his attacks against Abdul Gani, accusing him of fabricating evidence in an investigation back in 1998.
It is believed he was referring to Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s controversial “black eye” incident.
