KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 5 — The controversial disclosures in the recent memoirs of former Attorney General Tan Sri Tommy Thomas was used by the defence counsel in the ongoing murder trial of Cradle Fund chief executive officer Nazrin Hassan.
Malaysiakini reported lead counsel Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah as raising the issue of contempt of court as claimed by Thomas’ book, during the court proceedings at the High Court in Shah Alam.
Co-defence counsel Rahmat Hazlan told Malaysiakini that this occurred during the proceedings before presiding judge Datuk Ab Karim Ab Rahman. He said Shafee raised the issue of sub judice in regard to the contents of pages 409 and 410 in the memoirs.
The duo are acting on behalf of the trials’ defendants Nazrin’s wife Samirah Muzaffar, a former senior executive at the Perbadanan Harta Intelek Malaysia, and her two sons aged 18 and 15.
The three are charged with Nazrin’s murder alongside Indonesian national Eka Wahyu Lestari, who is still at large. Samirah and her sons allegedly committed the offence in a house at Mutiara Homes, Mutiara Damansara, between 11.30pm on June 13, 2018, and 4am on June 14, 2018.
Rahmat said the alleged subjudicial excerpts are in relation to the three defendants’ versions of what transpired on the night of the incident.
“The excerpts touched on the merits of the ongoing trial, involving evidence presented and yet to be presented during the proceedings, of which the court has made no determination on whether the said evidence is credible or not.
“The judge had then suggested to the prosecution on whether they could take upon the issue. However the prosecution team said they need to discuss the matter with their superiors first before deciding on it,” he told the portal.
Shafee subsequently informed the court that in the event the prosecution later decides not to proceed with the contempt bid, the defence team will themselves file a written application to cite Thomas for contempt.
The trial’s next date of hearing has been set to February 19.
Thomas’s 500-page book My Story: Justice in the Wilderness was published on January 30 and had generated intense interest and controversy of the issues and affairs that occurred during his tenure as the AG from 2018 to 2020.
Since then, former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak has issued a demand for an apology via his lawyers, as well as seeking RM10 million in damages, over allegations made against him in the book concerning the murder of Mongolian translator Altantuya Shaariibuu in 2006.
He was followed by former solicitor general III Datuk Mohamad Hanafiah Zakaria, who filed a police report against Thomas for allegedly claiming in the book that he was incapable of prosecuting Najib for corruption in the SRC International case.
Yesterday Thomas’ immediate predecessor as AG Tan Sri Mohamed Apandi Ali also filed a police report, claiming he violated the Official Secrets Act 1972 by publishing his memoir.
Similarly former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad is also reportedly unhappy with Thomas over the latter’s criticisms of his most recent tenure as premier, primarily blaming him for the collapse of the Pakatan Harapan government in February last year.
Mahathir disputes Thomas’ claim that he nominated himself as interim prime minister instead of PKR’s Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail after he resigned as prime minister.
Lawyer Mohamed Haniff Khatri Abdulla, who has acted for Dr Mahathir in several past court cases, also criticised Thomas over the issue of lawyer-client privilege. In turn former federal court judge Datuk Seri Gopal Sri Ram came to Thomas’ defence by stating the ex-AG is not bound by lawyer-client privilege in relation to the disclosures in the memoirs.
