BANGKOK, Oct 25 — Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad stressed that there is no exception for anyone in terms of rule of law.

In fact, he said everybody must be subject to the country’s rules of law.

“We have no wish to take revenge on anybody, but the rule of law applies to everybody, whether you are an incumbent Prime Minister or retired Prime Minister or in Malaysia, the rulers, are subject to the laws of the country,” he told the Malaysian media at the end of his two-day day visit to Thailand here today.

Dr Mahathir said this when he was asked about a slew of fresh charge levelled against former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and former Treasury secretary-general Tan Sri Dr Mohd Irwan Serigar at the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court today.

He said they were charged because there were evidence against them which could stand in court.

“I supposed the people who filed the charges must have evidence to charge Najib and the others for something very serious,” he said. ­

Besides Najib and Mohd Irwan, the government has also levelled charges against the former prime minister’s wife Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor and current Umno president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, who is also the former deputy Prime Minister.

They were charged with various offences.

They were hauled up to court as the Pakatan Harapan (PH) led-government promised to clean up the mess left by the previous Barisan Nasional government.

On whether Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim would take over his place as promised, Dr Mahathir said: “As far as I’m concerned, I will step down. That is my promise.”

“Once Anwar takes over the government, the PH de facto leader is also free to pick his own members of Cabinet,” he said.

On the landslide in Penang which claimed nine lives last Friday, the Prime Minister wanted the authorities to conduct detailed investigation on the matter.

Contractors should be careful about the location they chose to build road and they should ensure that it was not built on unstable soil as this could cause landslide, he said.

On whether the Penang undersea tunnel project should proceed in view of the landslide, he said it was possible if proper studies, due diligence and feasibility analysis were conducted.— Bernama