PUTRAJAYA, Jan 10 — Attorney-General Tan Sri Tommy Thomas today pleaded with the judiciary for their patience, accommodation and take into consideration the workload being thrown onto public prosecutors as they are preceded over some 27 high profile cases related to high profile individuals.

Calling them the ‘kleptocracy cases’, Thomas’ plead to the judiciary was for them to sympathise with the Deputy Public Prosecutors (DPP) who were swamped with cases, and to grant some ‘allowance and leeway’ in the conduct of these 27 trials.

Thomas said that most of these cases were related to the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) financial scandal, calling them ‘white-collar’ cases that involved serious, complex and difficult legal issues added with the voluminous documentation required for the proceedings.

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He explained that despite numerous teams, consisting of the most senior DPPs, being formed and tasked with separate high-profile cases, the added responsibility to the government lawyers was stretching Chamber’s resources thin.

“Seldom in the nation’s history have our DPPs been stretched as they are now.

“The matter is compounded in cases involving the same accused or the same defence counsel, typically when trial dates overlap between one case and another.

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“Accommodation and a give and take approach must take place so that no party is prejudiced or injustice occurs,” he said during his speech at the launch of the Legal Year 2020 in the Putrajaya International Convention Centre here this morning.

“The Courts should be assured that prosecution will not willy nilly seek adjournments,” he added.

It was a manifesto promise and arguably the clutch to Pakatan Harapan’s election victory, that the government would go after individuals accused of corruption and abuses of power linked to the 1MDB scandal.

So far, the heads of the former Barisan Nasional administration is former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and his former deputy Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has been charged with corruption-related offences in the courts here.

Najib’s wife Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor, her son Riza Aziz, former Federal Territories Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor, former 1MDB chief executive Arul Kanda Kandasamy, and former Treasury secretary-general Tan Sri Irwan Serigar Abdullah are among the names that have since been hauled to court following the change of government.