Ex-AG’s silence raises questions about political interference, says Zahid

 

Ahmad Zahid Hamidi says Tommy Thomas’ cooperation could shed light on what happened under Pakatan Harapan rule.

PETALING JAYA: The refusal of former attorney-general Tommy Thomas to cooperate with a task force looking into allegations in his memoirs raises questions about political interference during his tenure in office, said Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

Zahid said Thomas’s lack of cooperation raised questions over whether there was political interference in the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) and in the judicial system when he was in office.

“Tommy Thomas should be more ‘gentlemanly’ and take responsibility for the contents of his own memoirs. (He should be) helping to unravel the truth. As a former attorney-general, he should understand that justice is about the truth,” Zahid said.

“The country needs answers to all the questions raised by the disclosures in the book, because they involve the dignity and supremacy of the constitution and the rule of law.”

Last year, a task force was set up by the prime minister to look into claims made in the book, but on Thursday, Thomas said he had no intention of cooperating with it, citing its threat to the independence of the AGC.

“I have to protect former attorneys-general and also incumbents of the post, and also all officers at the AGC who must be able to make prosecution decisions in the interests of the people they serve, without fear or favour,” he said in a letter to task force chairman Fong Joo Chung.

Zahid also said Thomas’ cooperation could have led to a better understanding of what happened under Pakatan Harapan after it rose to power in 2018 and under which Thomas served. - FMT