EYE ON AG POST? NAJIB'S LAWYER SHAFEE BLAMES AMBIGA FOR 'POLITICIZING' THE BAR COUNCIL

Senior lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah says the Malaysian Bar no longer deserves respect as it is no more independent and is busy politicking.

Shafee, who is known as the Umno lawyer, says this “disturbing development” started with Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasen, who started the people movement Bersih. He claims Ambiga “supported the opposition” and this led to the Bar playing politics.

He stated this when asked his comment on the motion passed yesterday by the Malaysian Bar calling for Tan Sri Mohamed Apandi Ali to resign from his post as Attorney-General.

The motion called for Apandi to step down over his handling of the cases involving 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB), SRC International, and the transfer of RM2.6 billion into the Prime Minister’s Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s personal accounts.

“I find the development (of Malaysian Bar being politicised) very disturbing, and this has heightened with the emergence of Ambiga (Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan) when she became the Bar president. Remember when she was highly involved in Bersih and supporting the Opposition parties’ politicking campaigns?” asks Shafee.

Shafee also claims that the former Bar president is responsible for lowering the standards of the Bar Council, which is made up of the commitee that leads the Malaysian Bar.

“Of course she is not the only one, but many others did too. In a way, you can say that she started it. If you ask any young lawyers today -don’t ask the big firm lawyers as they have monopolised the seats in the Bar – they are running the Bar Council - if you ask any ordinary lawyers - even me -has the Bar Council taken care of the lawyers’ welfare? My answer is zero. I’m not afraid to go on record with what I’m saying, I would probably prove it in court that they are no longer credible,” he says.

He stated that the motion to remove Apandi as the A-G is not merely interfering with executive powers, but also an attempt to make executive powers of the A-G’s subservient to judicial powers.

Shafee says that this is not the first time where disputes with regards to the A-G’s discretion have risen.

“I could very well have asked in relation to Kasitah Gaddam’s case. I would have thought it was wrong to charge a person who was a serving member of the cabinet who has not resigned. He was charged in court and then only resigned.

(Kasitah was Malaysia's Land and Co-operative Development Minister when he was charged with corruption over multi-million dollar share transactions in 2004. He was, however, acquitted when the court decided that the prosecution has failed to prove a prima facie case against the ex-minister.)

“The same thing I can ask of the previous A-G (Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail) who seems to be associating himself with some of the people in the Bar.

“I would have been able to ask, how did he charge (Tun Dr) Ling Liong Sik when he haven’t even taken a statement from (former premier)Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamed that resulted in his acquittal when Mahathir seemed ambivalent? Shouldn’t someone be able to question him? Why could Ling not question him (the A-G)?” he questions.

Shafee says that unless one is able to prove three things - malafide, manifest of error or that a decision is perverse - then they have a shot in reversing the A-G’s discretion.

“Otherwise, we will have to wait for the A-G’s decision and trust him. If he decided to charge, you can fight him in court.

“Just imagine if this (the motion) is allowed, everyone will want to go to court and say the A-G’s discretion is wrong and wants their case reviewed.

Shafee adds that Bar has created a chaotic situation where they have opened the floodgates.

“I wish them all the best, as in my view, they will be shown the law by the Federal Court. There is no reason or condition present that is intelligent enough to interfere with the discretion of the A-G,” he says.

He adds that the Malaysian Bar has gone against their principles that were made in 1976 - that they remain independent and impartial.

“To me, they are politicking. They should not be seen as doing such things. They are supposed to be an independent body.

“If you recall R.Sivarasa’s case (PKR Subang Jaya MP), he was and still an MP and he wanted to be a member of the Bar. If they allowed him to be a member, they would have made the Bar subservient to politicians.

“You have to be purely independent to be a member of the Bar. The more independent you are the more trust you will gain and the more effective you will be.

He says that the present Malaysian Bar is different now, unlike when they were previously under presidents such as Raja Aziz Addruse, V C George and Param Cumaraswamy.

"Only in those times was the Bar Council prominently independent,” says Shafee. - http://www.theheatmalaysia.com/