Has Anwar Swept The Leaked Najib-Memo Under The Carpet?
It’s shocking that Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has failed to uphold the rule of law to serve justice to former Premier Najib Razak.
by Aathi Shankar
Anwar, who had always prided himself as a crusader for justice when he was the opposition icon, remains hypocritically unfazed by the leaked memo
While in the opposition, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has tirelessly promoted and marketed himself as the ultimate champion of justice and civil rights.
Malaysians have heard enough of Anwar’s constant harp on the need to exert the rule of law.
Anwar was hailed by his supporters as the man to reform the country’s legal and justice system.
But now as the Prime Minister, Anwar has strangely kept a deafening silence on the recently leaked 12-page memo from the Attorney General’s Chambers (AGC) that would prove former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak’s innocence.
Anwar, his cabinet members and relevant legal bodies have all gone into a switch-off mode as if the leaked memo was a worthless non-issue.
One wonders whether the controversial leaked memo has been swept under the carpet.
No Prima Facie
Dated 10 September 2019, the AGC’s Najib-memo was written and submitted by IPIC prosecution team head Datuk Jamil Aripin to then AG Tan Sri Tommy Thomas with a copy cc-ed to AGC’s head of prosecution Manoj Kurup.
The leaked 12-page AGC memo specifically touched on the six charges, related to the IMalaysia Development Board (1MDB) and the International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC), pressed on Bossku Najib and former treasury secretary-general Tan Sri Mohd Irwan Serigar Abdullah.
Najib, who was the prime minister when the alleged payments were made, and Irwan were jointly charged in the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court on 25 October 25 2018.
They face six counts of criminal breach of trust under Section 409 of the Penal Code with regard to payments of 6.6 billion ringgit (USD1.43 billion) in government funds to the Abu Dhabi company.
The AGC memo concluded that there was no case to charge Najib or Irwan Serigar and that the findings of the investigation papers didn’t fulfil the minimum requirement or threshold to press charges against both men.
The memo has claimed that the weak charges cannot stand in the court to secure even a prima facie case, let alone a conviction, against Najib and Irwan Serigar.
According to the memo, all the statements of the 138 witnesses, including high-ranking Finance Ministry (MoF) officers, interviewed by the AGC and documented evidence failed to support the prosecution case.
The leaked memo has strongly suggested to Tommy Thomas that cases related to 1MDB-IPIC against Najib and Serigar should be dropped.
Hypocrisy
Anwar, who had always prided himself as a crusader for justice when he was the opposition icon, remains hypocritically unfazed by the leaked memo.
Najib was undoubtedly subjected to selective prosecution and political persecution.
Emerging fresh evidence has established a strong and genuine public perception that Najib was wrongly framed and charged for corrupt crimes committed by others.
Yet Anwar, who previously claimed that he himself was a victim of injustice, has publicly distanced himself with a pin-drop silence from the injustice and illegal imprisonment exacted on Najib.
Justice
The outgoing AG Tan Sri Idrus Harun has said that AGC was conducting an internal probe to find out the source of the leak, implying that the memo was genuine indeed.
It is unclear what was the outcome of the internal probe as Idrus will retiring on 5 September and will be replaced by Solicitor-General Datuk Ahmad Terrirudin Salleh.
Bossku supporters now hope that the new AG will somehow deliver justice by dropping the IPIC charges against Najib and Irwan Serigar.
The new AG Ahmad Terrirudin has a statutory duty to deliver justice. Doesn’t he?
Walk The Talk
Anwar’s unity government has so far shirked its constitutional responsibility to deliver justice to their legal wrongs and sins inflicted on Najib.
