AGC denies issuing charge sheet against Najib

KUALA LUMPUR — Malaysia’s Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) has denied that it had drafted or issued an alleged charge sheet against Prime Minister Najib Razak, which was disclosed by whistleblower site Sarawak Report this evening (July 30).

“The draft of the charge that was published by Sarawak Report was not made or issued by the Attorney-General’s Chambers,” Mr Abdul Majid Hamzah, the Deputy Solicitor General I (Litigation) in the AGC, said via his Twitter handle @TAMajid tonight.

In its latest posting, Sarawak Report had published a draft of the charge sheet purportedly done by former Attorney General Abdul Gani Patail against the prime minister and a company director of a firm linked to troubled state investment firm 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).

Mr Abdul Gani was removed on Tuesday in a surprising move which some lawyers have charged was unconstitutional.

On the same day, Mr Najib sacked his deputy Muhyiddin Yassin and four other Ministers in a Cabinet reshuffle, following Mr Muhyiddin’s criticisms of how Mr Najib had handled the 1MDB issue.

Mr Abdul Gani was replaced by federal judge Apandi Ali, who this evening refused to be drawn into debate over the abrupt removal of his predecessor.

“I don’t know anything about the report so I cannot comment, okay?” Mr Apandi told local media when asked about the claims by Sarawak Report.

“I don’t know, it’s not for me to comment,” he reiterated when reporters pressed him if he considered the alleged leaked document a serious matter.

Claiming exclusivity, the London-based Sarawak Website had run a report this evening entitled: Arrest Warrant For The Prime Minister! – The Real Reason The Attorney General Was Fired.

It published pictures of papers purportedly to be the draft of the charge sheet against Mr Najib and Mr Shamus Anuar Sulaiman, a director of a former 1MDB subsidiary, SRC International. The documents were undated but carried a serial number that typically marks government papers.

Sarawak Report claimed that the alleged charge sheet against Mr Najib had led to Mr Gani’s sacking even though his contract as Attorney General was until October.

“The documents, which were being worked in their final draft stages by the Attorney-General, were sent to the Sarawak Report following the sacking of Mr Gani and have now been verified by other senior parties,”  it said, noting that the corruption charge carries a penalty of up to 20 years in prison.

Responding to the latest development, Malaysia police chief Khalid Abu Bakar said that Sarawak Report should not confuse the public and asked that the rumours be stopped.

The nation’s top cop also tweeted a screen capture of Mr Majid’s statement and said that it only confirmed what he had said earlier.

In an earlier Twitter message, Mr Khalid had urged a halt to circulation of the alleged “charge sheet”, saying the document was unverified, and attached a snapshot of the purported draft.

Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government Minister Rahman Dahlan also took to Twitter about Sarawak Report’s allegations, saying: “Clare Brown and charge sheet? Yawnnnnn..... Zzzzz.”

He was referring the founder and editor of the site Clare Rewcastle-Brown, who has accused of tampering evidence on her reports of 1MDB.

1MDB is being audited by the bipartisan Public Accounts Committee over its RM42 billion (S$15 billion) debt racked up in the past five years.

The firm is under a separate probe by a special task force comprising the Attorney-General’s Chambers, central bank, federal police and anti-graft agency over allegations in a Wall Street Journal report that up to US$700 million was allegedly transferred from companies linked to 1MDB into two AmBank accounts under Mr Najib’s name.

On Tuesday, Malaysia’s Chief Secretary to the Government Ali Hamsa announced the removal of Mr Abdul Gani, who had been leading the multi-agency taskforce, due to “health reasons”. AGENCIES