KUALA LUMPUR, May 9 — Former Attorney General Tan Sri Mohamed Apandi Ali said that Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has no right to question the settlement made between him and the federal government over his RM2.23 million wrongful dismissal suit.
Apandi, who is also a former Federal Court judge, claimed that Dr Mahathir seemed to be deliberately stirring up attention by raising the issue when the out-of-court settlement had been concluded some three weeks ago.
“It’s not he who has the right to agree or disagree (on the settlement made) because this is a suit against the government, and the government has agreed (to settle out of court).
“The one representing the government is the AG and if the AG has decided as such, it must be complied with, so Dr Mahathir has no rights to question. The settlement was over three weeks ago, why now? As if to seek attention,” Mohamed Apandi was quoted as saying by Malay daily Utusan Malaysia.
Last week Dr Mahathir expressed discontent over the government’s move to resolve out of court the suit filed by Mohamed Apandi against both himself and the Malaysian government.
The nonagenarian further claimed that as a key witness in the case, he was not even informed of the terms of the settlement.
As for Dr Mahathir’s wish for the AG to disclose the terms of settlement to avoid further public discontent, Mohamed Apandi said the confidentiality surrounding terms of settlement was a common occurrence and not extraordinary.
In a recent statement to national news agency Bernama, current AG Tan Sri Idrus Harun confirmed that Dr Mahathir had recently written to him to obtain information on the terms of settlement, to which he had subsequently conveyed as requested.
On April 13, it was reported that the suit filed by Apandi against Dr Mahathir over the termination of the former’s contract as AG was settled amicably in the Kuala Lumpur High Court.
Lawyer Datuk Baljit Singh Sidhu, who represented Apandi as the plaintiff in the case, said the terms of settlement could not be revealed.
It was reported that Apandi had filed the suit on October 13, 2020, naming Dr Mahathir and the government, respectively as first and second defendants, seeking among others a declaration of termination of his contract as the AG, made by the former prime minister, as invalid.
