Straight talk from Down Under with lawyer Quintin Rozario – Pt 1
(Malaysia Outlook) – Malaysian-born Australian lawyer Quintin Rozario made headlines when he took a swipe at the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) to seize assets allegedly linked to 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) as legally flawed.
Rozario pointedly noted that by making public statements on Malaysian individuals allegedly to have laundered illicit funds into the US, its Attorney-General Loretta Lynch had herself committed “excesses and breaches of natural justice”.
The Brisbane-based lawyer insisted that Lynch overstepped the mark and her authority by concluding that an offence or offences had been committed by Malaysia or its agents.
“She went further by implying that they were guilty of the offence by making assertions without a scintilla of proof or a valid court decision that could back her assertions.
“In order for that to occur, the Malaysian defendants ought to first to have been heard. They were not,” said the 65-year-old legal counsel.
Rozario’s outspoken views however, were not taken lightly by some readers.
Some went berserk in their comments to ridicule Rozario after a blog operated by a certain British writer uploaded his article – ‘US DOJ action on 1MDB legally flawed, says senior Aussie lawyer’.
An over enthusiastic commentator was slapped with a notice of legal action for going overboard with his nasty remarks against Rozario.
Fearing serious legal repercussion, King Leong, a Malaysian from Penang working in a senior position in a bank in Australia, instantly retracted his comments and apologised to Rozario, which was published under title – ‘SR reader apologises to senior Aussie lawyer’.
The senior lawyer from down under has recently ‘returned home’ to Malaysia for a private business.
Malaysia Outlook managed to engage Rozario for an exclusive interview in between his busy schedules meeting his clients.
His answers in this part one of two series shall clear doubts lingering in our readers mind.
He provided answers to add more clarity on his assessment on the DOJ purported suit that certainly caught national, if not international, attention.
Excerpts of the interview as below:
MO: Has the US DOJ filed the civil suit against the four, who were supposed to have ‘stolen’ monies from 1MDB?
QR: Not to my knowledge. It appears from the comments by the DOJ and from various sources close to the four that no steps have been taken by the DOJ to either file criminal complaints or civil suits against any of them. A civil suit will not be the appropriate course of action by the DOJ considering the allegations against the 4 amount to criminal conduct. If they were to file a civil suit, it would appear as a lawyer Noorharjan suggested “a strange way to proceed” when after all the DOJ suggested they had committed a criminal offence. If the DOJ had the evidence they suggested they have then, they ought to proceed on the basis that requires of the DOJ the higher standard of proof (beyond reasonable doubt) that the lower threshold set for civil standard of proof.
