KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 26 — Former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has questioned why no investigation was launched against former attorney general (AG) Tan Sri Apandi Ali over his handling of the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) scandal.
He further contrasted Apandi’s case with that of disgraced former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, who is currently serving jailtime for his involvement in the multi-million ringgit corruption scandal.
“Apandi committed the offence when he was the AG before (Tan Sri) Tommy Thomas was appointed as AG in 2018.
“The offence was freeing Datuk Seri Najib from any legal action. This clearly shows Apandi was involved in ‘closing’ the 1MDB scandal, when Najib is now in jail,” he said in a short video titled “Selective Prosecution” on his Facebook page last night.
Dr Mahathir added that High Court judge Datuk Azimah Omar rejected Apandi’s defamation suit against DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang in her 100-page written judgment on May 23 this year.
“Azimah concluded that Apandi, among others, was someone who did not speak the truth, failed to perform his duties as the AG and that there were grounds for this to be investigated for alleged collaboration and cover-up in relation to 1MDB crimes,” he added.
Dr Mahathir also pointed out that Azimah’s judgment noted “the disdain of the court to the sordid extent of Apandi’s self-contradictory testimony, evasiveness and outright untruth”.
He claimed that numerous police reports were lodged in response to the High Court ruling but no decisive action had been taken against Apandi to date.
“Instead, the government compensated Apandi millions of ringgit because the previous government had terminated his services due to failure to discharge his duties,” he said.
On January 26, 2016, then AG Apandi had claimed during a press conference that the RM2.6 billion paid into Najib’s personal account was a donation from the Saudi royal family.
He added that the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) had met and recorded statements from the purported donor who said the monies were donated to Najib privately.
In the same 2016 press conference, Apandi had also said Malaysia did not need to seek mutual legal assistance to complete investigations into the 1MDB scandal as there was no evidence of criminal wrongdoing, nor had a crime been committed in the transfer of RM42 million from government investment company SRC International Sdn Bhd to Najib’s personal account.
Najib was sent to Kajang Prison on August 23 after losing his appeal to overturn his conviction of misappropriating RM42 million from SRC International.
He was sentenced to 12 years in jail and fined RM210 million.
Najib remains on trial for several other 1MDB-related charges.
