KOTA KINABALU, June 9 — The acquittal of Tan Sri Musa Aman and the hauling up of state minister Datuk Peter Anthony on the same day is a “strange coincidence” that spells some political foreboding for the Sabah government, said Parti Warisan Sabah Youth chief Datuk Azis Jamman.

The Sepanggar MP stopped short of saying there was political inference but stated it was so strange that the two incidents happened on the same day with such perfect timing.

“Well, the new attorney general (AG) thinks so, but the previous AG thought there was a case (against Musa). A change of government to Perikatan Nasional (PN) can cause the change of the AG so if the government changes again, the AG might change and the opinion might change as well…

“Somehow it seems like the laws in the country change along with the government,” he said, adding that Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad had recently said that a lot of strange things were happening in Malaysia now with regards to law and order.

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Azis said that it was not his place to comment on what transpired in court but said that the dropping of Musa’s 46 corruption and money laundering charges along with the hauling up of Parti Warisan Sabah’s vice-president Anthony today for a 2014 contract that was investigated by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) in 2016 and 2017 was too much of a coincidence.

“Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying there is political interference but I leave it to the public and professionals who are experts on the law to interpret. The federal government might deny there is interference, but as I said, it’s perfectly timing,” he said.

Azis, a former deputy home minister, was asked to comment on the High Court’s acquittal of Musa from 30 counts of corruption and 16 money laundering charges allegedly related to the award of logging contracts during his tenure as Sabah’s chief minister this morning.

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Meanwhile, Sabah DAP secretary Chan Foong Hin said he was surprised, and it would seem that the acquittal was a return to “the old days”, ostensibly referring to the government using the law and judicial system for political advantage.

“I urge the attorney general to clarify why his chamber should have instructed the withdrawal of all the charges,” he said.

It was reported that deputy public prosecutor Datuk Azhar Abdul Hamid had informed the court of the Attorney General’s Chambers (AGC) request to withdraw all 46 charges.

Musa, in an immediate response, thanked the courts and said that the charges against him were all politically-motivated.

This is the second high-profile discharge of personalities linked to the previous Barisan Nasional administration since the new PN government was installed in March.

Last month, Riza Shahriz Abd Aziz — the stepson of former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak — was conditionally discharged of laundering over US$248 million (or equivalent to over RM1.075 billion based on the currency exchange rate on May 14 when he was conditionally discharged) in funds linked to the 1MDB scandal.