Lawyer wonders if ex-AG’s tenure is short-lived because he wants to re-charge DPM Zahid Hamidi

(FM) : THAT 56-year-old former attorney-general (AG) Tan Sri Ahmad Terrirudin Salleh (main pic) is seen “prematurely removed”before his retirement age of 60 via his appointment as a Federal Court judge must have sent tongues wagging in the legal fraternity.

This comes about as human rights activist and lawyer Charles Hector reminisced of “a previous AG/public prosecutor (PP) (Tan Sri Gani Patail) who was prematurely removed for allegedly going to charge Najib (now incarcerated former premier Datuk Seri Najib Razak) on 1MDB (1Malaysia Development Bhd)-related cases”.

“Was AG/PP Terrirudin removed because he was going to re-charge (Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad) Zahid Hamidi over the 47 charges (levelled against him)?” asked Hector who is also co-founder of NGO Malaysians Against Death Penalty and Torture (MADPET) in his latest blog.

“Was he going to charge the PM (Prime Minister) or some ministers? A question which is relevant is that why was he removed so soon?”

Recall that on Sept 4 last year, the prosecution withdrew all 47 charges of criminal breach of trust (CBT), graft and money laundering faced by Zahid who is also the UMNO president in the Yayasan Akalbudi trial after applying to discharge all the charges.

The then Kuala Lumpur High Court judge Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah (who has since been elevated to be an appellate court judge) upheld the prosecution’s application for a discharge not amounting to acquittal (DNAA) for Zahid as opposed to the defence’s request for a full acquittal.

Yesterday (Nov 11), Chief Secretary to the Government Tan Sri Shamsul Azri Abu Bakar said the Yang di-Pertuan Agong has consented to the appointment of the AGC’s trial and appellate division head Datuk Mohd Dusuki Mokhtar as Terrirudin’s successor in accordance with Article 145(1) of the Federal Constitution.

“The government expresses its sincere gratitude to Terrirudin for his service to the nation during his tenure as AG” he said in a statement.

In Hector’s contention, Terrirudin who was appointed as the AG on Sept 6 last year to succeed Tan Sri Idrus Harun whose contractual appointment ended a day earlier should not be removed before his retirement age of 60.

“The question is WHY was Terrirudin removed by the PM?” he asserted. “The AG is appointed on the advice of the PM as Article 145(1) states that the Yang di-Pertuan Agong shall on the advice of the PM appoint a person who is qualified to be a judge of the Federal Court to be the AG for the Federation.”

In his earlier blog in July when news first broke out that the Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) had recommended Alor Setar-born Terrirudin to be appointed a Federal Court judge, Hector has raised the question if “the PM is ignoring the recommendation of JAC and forwarding his own name to the Conference of Rulers?”

Source : Focusmalaysia