KUALA LUMPUR – The recent acquittal of Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor has renewed pressure on Putrajaya to implement the separation of powers between the public prosecutors’ (PP) office and the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) without undue delay.
Putrajaya must show the public that it has a clear plan on implementing this reform as public confidence is eroding after the granting of several similar discharges to high-profile political figures, civil society groups said.
Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (Bersih) chairman Muhammad Faisal Abd Aziz said the separation, which has been in the works over the past two years, is vital for the government to distance itself from decisions made by the judiciary.
“For Bersih, it is very important for the government to come up with a clear plan to separate the role between the AG and PP,” he told Scoop.
“(With the separation), the prime minister can excuse his responsibility over any flaws made by the deputy public prosecutor since the office would have acted as an independent body.”
At the moment, public confidence has eroded, Faisal added, and the government needs to regain the people’s trust towards enforcement agencies.
On Dec 19, Rosmah, the wife of former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, was acquitted and discharged by the high court here over 12 money laundering charges involving more than RM7 million, and five charges of failing to declare her income to the Inland Revenue Board (LHDN).
Bersih, along with nine other non-government organisations, said that as long as the public prosecutor is not separated from the AGC and the AG’s tenure is controlled by the prime minister, the latter and not the AG will be seen as responsible for discharges and acquittals, especially involving politically-linked individuals.
Earlier this month, Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reforms) M. Kulasegaran had to defend the government against a backbencher’s assertion that it was taking too long to implement the separation of powers.
Kulasegaran said the government hopes to finalise its report the separation of powers as soon as possible next year, to be followed by a bill tabled in Parliament.
He said while amending the Federal Constitution to implement the separation would be feasible given government’s two-third majority in the Dewan Rakyat, Malaysia still needs to study the right model to adopt, besides other aspects involving the government and law enforcement given the AGC’s role in handling prosecutions for various government agencies.
Meanwhile, the Centre to Combat Corruption and Cronyism (C4) said Rosmah’s acquittal has added another blow to the “already-fraught” reputation of the AGC.
It told Scoop there is “growing public distrust against Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s administration due to the perception of political interference in certain cases”.
“This perception is well-founded due to the lack of separation between the offices of the AG and public prosecutor.
“The AG is appointed on the binding advice of the prime minister and also holds the office of the public prosecutor. In other words, the discretion to direct criminal prosecutions lies with a political appointee,” C4 said.
While the AGC has since filed a notice of appeal against the High Court verdict, lawyer and human rights activist Charles Hector asserted that the blame for defective charges falls on the public prosecutor who had brought the accusations against Rosmah.
The issue of defective charges was raised by high court judge K. Muniandy, who, in allowing Rosmah’s discharge and acquittal, noted that the charges failed to detail the nature of transactions involving illicit funds or how Rosmah was directly involved. Neither did the charges disclose key elements of money laundering offences, the judge also noted.
Regarding the charges under the Income Tax Act 1967, while the justice noted the presence of undisclosed income, he added that there must be transactions indicating the accused’s involvement with the undeclared income to classify it as money laundering.
Hector said that regardless the initial filing of charges against Rosmah, subsequent public prosecutors could have corrected mistakes in the charges, highlighting that Section 158 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC) also allows the court to “alter or add” to any charge before a judgement is pronounced.
“So, was Rosmah misled by the errors or omissions? I doubt it. The decision to acquit based on defective charges may be wrong,” he said when contacted by Scoop.
Rosmah’s acquittal saw Anwar once again reiterating that he never interfered in judicial matters in his two years as prime minister. Last year, Deputy Prime MInister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi was granted a discharge not amounting to an acquittal (DNAA) for corruption charges in the Yayasan Aklabudi case, and earlier this month, he was acquitted over charges in the foreign visa system (VLN) case).
Anwar on Saturday told the media that Rosmah’s discharge was entirely within the purview of the courts and that there were flaws in the prosecution of several cases during Pakatan Harapan’s (PH) first stint in Putrajaya after the 14th general election in 2018. Anwar alleged political revenge in many of the charges filed during that time.
In the case where she was granted an acquittal, Rosmah was charged in October 2018 during Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s second tenure as prime minister.
Her husband Najib, was also charged with multiple counts of corruption related to 1MDB under the PH administration. In September last year, Najib and former 1MDB CEO Arul Kanda Kandasamy were acquitted of tampering with a 1MDB audit report because the prosecution’s notices of appeal had lapsed. Last month, Najib and former Treasury secretary-general Tan Sri Irwan Serigar Abdullah were granted a DNAA in the International Petroleum Investment Company case because the prosecution was slow in supplying key documents to the defence.
Currently, Rosmah is also appealing her 2022 conviction for corruption in the solar hybrid rural schools project. She was sentenced to 10 years in prison and is to pay a RM970 million fine. The hearing for her appeal case is scheduled for March 5 next year at the appellate court.
Her other ongoing cases as a suit against her by Lebanon-based jeweller, Global Royalty Trading SAL, over the loss of more than 40 pieces of jewellery, and a US$346 million lawsuit filed by 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) and 10 other companies alleging the use of monies misappropriated from the sovereign wealth fund to purchase luxury goods. – December 23, 2024