On 19 December, Rosmah Mansor, wife of former Prime Minister Najib Razak, was acquitted of 17 charges of money laundering and tax evasion amounting to RM7m.
The judge granted an order of acquittal after allowing Rosmah’s application to have all charges against her quashed, on the grounds that the charges were defective and failed to disclose the essential elements of the alleged offences.
The Center to Combat Corruption and Cronyism (C4 Center) is shocked at these developments, which indicate deep-rooted institutional flaws within the Attorney General’s Chambers.
The repeated failure to bring corruption cases involving the political elite to full trial has destroyed public trust in the criminal justice system. It also highlights the urgent need to separate the offices of the public prosecutor and the Attorney General’s Chambers.
Rosmah faced 12 charges of money laundering involving RM7m and five charges of failing to declare her income to the Inland Revenue Board.
The presiding judge, K Muniandy, granted Rosmah’s application for an acquittal due to the prosecution’s charges being bad in law.
The charges had failed to disclose key elements of the offence of money laundering, such as the transaction involving money laundering, the unlawful conduct of the accused, and the money referred to in the charges. Similar procedural issues were also listed in the charges for failure of income tax declaration. Hence, all 17 charges were struck out.
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Deputy Public Prosecutor Ahmad Akram Gharib stated immediately after the proceedings that the Attorney General’s Chambers would appeal the court’s decision.
As highlighted by C4 Center in a statement on 28 November, there have been a string of flawed prosecutions that undermine the credibility of the chambers to prosecute cases of corruption. These cases include:
- Najib Razak and Irwan Serigar: The prosecution failed to deliver pre-trial documents as per Section 51A of the Criminal Procedure Code, in large part due to their confidentiality under the Official Secrets Act 1972
- Zahid Hamidi: In the Yayasan Akalbudi case, the court granted a discharge not amounting to acquittal on 47 charges including criminal breach of trust and money laundering, as the prosecution needed to conduct “more thorough and comprehensive investigation”
- Najib Razak and Arul Kanda: In the 1MDB audit tampering trial, acquittals for corruption-related charges were left unchallenged after the prosecution failed to file their petitions of appeal in time
- Lim Guan Eng: In the case of his purchase of a bungalow below market price, the prosecution applied for a discharge not amounting to an acquittal almost two years after the charge, upon discovering fresh evidence
Just last week on 12 December, the Attorney General’s Chambers withdrew the appeal against the Shah Alam High Court’s decision to acquit and discharge the Deputy PM Zahid Hamidi from 40 charges of corruption in connection with the foreign visa system (VLN). Subsequently, the Court of Appeal struck out the prosecution’s appeal, effectively upholding Zahid’s acquittal.
Rosmah’s acquittal adds another blow to the already-fraught reputation of the chambers.
There is a growing question of how acquittals and discharges not amounting to acquittals for many influential political figures were secured through the shortcomings of the prosecution’s case.
If these failures were the result of genuine mistakes by the Attorney General’s Chambers, it demonstrates an incredibly concerning trend of incompetence resulting in interferences with the administration of justice.
Newly appointed Attorney General Dusuki Mokhtar must take accountability for these failures and explain how such significant errors could have been overlooked to begin with. Such high-profile failures early in Dusuki’s tenure do not bode well for the rest of his term.
The DPP’s verbal commitment to appeal the court’s decision does little to assuage the anxieties regarding the prosecution’s ability to ‘get it right’ next time around if the Attorney General’s Chambers does not directly address how the mistakes of this prosecution are not repeated in the appeals process.
Even more worryingly, however, is the growing public distrust of Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s administration due to the perception of political interference in these cases.
This perception is well-founded due to the lack of separation of the offices of the attorney general and public prosecutor. The attorney general is appointed on the binding advice of the prime minister and holds the office of the public prosecutor. In other words, the discretion to direct criminal prosecutions lies with a political appointee.
This structure has been long criticised as there is an inherent possibility that decisions to prosecute political figures may be influenced by the executive.
This perception is compounded by new fears regarding the independence of the judiciary.
Former Bar Council President Ambiga Sreenevasan has raised the alarm over the possibility of shrinking judicial independence, citing the 10-month delay in the appointing Hasnah Mohammed Hashim as Chief Judge of Malaysia, without any explanation for the delay.
Professor Shad Saleem Faruqi has recently also called for the removal of the Prime Minister’s “absolute” influence to appoint judges.
Clearly, the concerns of undue influence of the executive over the judiciary are real and must be addressed urgently to restore public confidence.
Regardless of whether Rosmah’s acquittal was due to incompetence or due to political machinations, if left unaddressed, these events only add credence to the perception that there is [considerable] impunity for individuals with significant wealth and influence.
Rosmah and Najib have been strongly implicated in the largest ever corruption scandal in Malaysia, and one of the biggest in the world. It would be a grave miscarriage of justice should they be able to walk free on something as frivolous and avoidable as a mistake in legal technicalities.
Hence,C4 Centerstrongly urges the Attorney General’s Chambers to take immediate accountability following this string of embarrassments and inform the public of the steps being taken to remedy their issues.
Furthermore, it is urgent for the offices of the attorney general and public prosecutor to be separated and for prosecutorial guidelines to be drafted to steer the conduct of prosecutors in a fair and uniform manner. – C4 Center
- Tegakkan maruah serta kualiti kehidupan rakyat
- Galakkan pembangunan saksama, lestari serta tangani krisis alam sekitar
- Raikan kerencaman dan keterangkuman
- Selamatkan demokrasi dan angkatkan keluhuran undang-undang
- Lawan rasuah dan kronisme
The Madanuar politic of I scratch your … you scratch mine.
Its an international affair as the 1MDB scandal gives evidence. Does it not make more sense to file it in an international court?