JOHOR BAHRU – The appointment of Datuk Ahmad Terrirudin Mohd Salleh as attorney-general effective September 6, is the perfect choice, said Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reform) Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said.
Azalina said the choice was the right one because of Terrirudin’s position as solicitor-general and number two after the attorney-general.
He then assumed the position of the Federal Court chief registrar on May 3, 2019.
“He is a professional and I am confident his appointment is the perfect choice. This is also an internal appointment within the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC), which comprises experts in the legal field, and represents the country’s legal sector.”
She told reporters this after a meeting with the district voting centres at the Kempas state constituency in Taman Dahlia, here, last night.
Azalina, who is Pengerang MP, also hopes the appointment would continue the good work carried out by former Attorney-General Tan Sri Idrus Harun and the AGC in general.
A law graduate from Universiti Malaya, Terrirudin, 55, joined the judicial and legal service in 1995 where he had served several postings such as senior assistant registrar of the High Court of Malaya, magistrate in Sibu, sessions court judge in Kuala Lumpur, and special officer to the chief justice of the Federal Court.
Meanwhile, on claims by Umno Youth that the internal memo documents of AGC were leaked, Azalina said the matter would be handled by the related agency.
“If they (Umno Youth) want to lodge a police report or the Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission (MACC), let the relevant agency investigate. It is up to the agency to investigate.”
Earlier, Umno Youth chief Muhamad Akmal Saleh was quoted as urging Terrirudin to confirm whether there was a leak of the internal memo as claimed by social media reports.
Akmal added that if there was a leak, the Umno Youth would lodge a report to MACC in the near future as well as urge members to lodge a police report.
There was also the issue of a leaked memorandum relating to the grounds of the AGC’s decision on former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s final appeal against his conviction in the SRC International corruption case.
The alleged 12-page memo which was circulated online, said an evaluation found on the available evidence in the case involving Najib and former Treasury secretary-general Tan Sri Irwan Serigar Abdullah was deemed to be “grossly insufficient” to prove a prima facie case for the six charges.
The memo was purportedly sent by the case’s lead prosecutor Datuk Jamil Aripin to Tan Sri Tommy Thomas, who was the attorney-general at the time. – September 3, 2023