KUALA LUMPUR, March 15 — The Yang diPertuan Agong is the sole authority to decide on the appointment and removal of the Attorney-General, an Umno lawyer said today following news that the Malaysian Bar will discuss calling for Tan Sri Mohd Apandi Ali’s exit.
Urging the Malaysian Bar and the Attorney-General to cease all further hostilities, Datuk Mohd Hafarizam Harun said acrimony between the two would be detrimental to the country’s criminal justice administration.
“We also need to be reminded that the appointment of Attorney General is by Yang diPertuan Agong and therefore it is at the pleasure of YDPA when he thinks that the Attorney General is unfit or unable to perform his duties.
“Any discussion could be construed to challenge the royal prerogative of Yang diPertuan Agong,” the lawyer said in a statement.
He further insisted that Apandi has not misbehaved in any way to merit the Bar’s “unprecedented and unnecessary” motion to seek his removal, and was only exercising the discretionary powers granted him by the Federal Constitution.
Hafarizam also argued that the AG’s powers to decide on prosecutions were not subject to judicial review under the principle that both the prosecution and judiciary must be independent of one another.
Malay Mail Online reported earlier today that the Malaysian Bar is set to debate at its annual general meeting (AGM) Saturday a motion that calls on Apandi to quit as AG, in light of the controversies surrounding state investment firm 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), former 1MDB unit SRC International, and the RM2.6 billion transfer into the prime minister’s personal accounts.
The Bar today also filed for judicial review of Apandi’s decision on January 26 to clear Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak of wrongdoing in both cases and that ordered the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) to close the investigation papers.
