KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 27 — Datuk Seri Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar today condemned the Malaysian Bar for questioning the impartiality of the special task force set to investigate allegations in former attorney-general Tan Sri Tommy Thomas' book.
The caretaker law minister said allegations of Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri using it as political ammunition were "baseless and inaccurate," adding that the report's findings were based on 19 consultations conducted by the task force with documents from relevant stakeholders and agencies.
"The special task force (STF) had also invited the Bar Council to participate in the consultation session so as to ensure that all parties’ views are taken into consideration in preparing the report," he said in a statement.
"However, the Bar Council declined the invitation for a consultation session with the special task force. As such, casting a negative perception on the impartiality of the STF members is completely baseless.
"The Malaysian Bar ought to have come forward and given their views on the various allegations identified by the special task force. To refuse participation and then question the impartiality of the special task force and its members should not be the Bar's way to confront issues of this kind," he added.
Yesterday, the Malaysian Bar questioned if caretaker prime minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s orders to declassify the report detailing Putrajaya’s investigation into former attorney general Tommy Thomas’ memoir to use as political ammunition fell under a form of power abuse.
Bar president Karen Cheah Yee Lynn added that such an investigation must be free from “political tampering,” and would have been in better hands under a Royal Commission of Inquiry instead of the government-linked special task force.
Cheah said that the declassification of the report was “untimely,” given the dissolution of Parliament on October 7 and the pending 15th general election slated for November 19.
The report on the special task force’s probe into Thomas’ book titled My Story: Justice in the Wilderness was declassified last Friday.
The task force, led by Sarawak legal adviser Datuk Seri Fong Joo Chung, had spent nine months investigating possible offences including professional negligence, seditious statements, abuse of power, and possible exposure of government secrets.
After Thomas’ book was published, it received much criticism from lawyers and politicians for allegedly containing elements of incitement, insults and defamation.
More than 100 police reports were lodged against Thomas over his book.
