AG declines to comment on 'draft charge sheet from slain DPP' claim

Attorney-general Mohamed Apandi Ali has declined to comment on Sarawak Report editor Clare Rewcastle-Brown claiming she obtained the draft of an alleged charge sheet against Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak from deputy public prosecutor Kevin Morais prior to his murder.

Contacted on the matter this afternoon, Apandi, who dismissed the charge sheet as fake when it was published by Sarawak Report two years ago, replied: “I have no comment.”

Yesterday, Malaysiakini reported that Rewcastle-Brown made the claim in her defence statement on Oct 11 with regard to a defamation suit filed against her in the UK by PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang.

According to her, she received the document a day after Apandi's predecessor Abdul Gani Patail vacated his position on July 27, 2015.

"The defendant (Rewcastle-Brown) had received the draft indictments and information relating to the planned prosecution of Najib and the consequent dismissal of (Gani), the day after that dismissal, from a public prosecutor, Kevin Morais," read the statement sighted by Malaysiakini.

Gani was replaced on the grounds of health reasons. At the time, he was heading a joint task force probing the 1MDB issue.

The government has denied that Gani was removed in an attempt to cover-up the 1MDB scandal and related issues.

Days after his removal, on July 30, Sarawak Report published a report claiming that there was a charge sheet against Najib regarding the alleged misappropriation of RM42 million from SRC International - a former 1MDB subsidiary - into his personal accounts.

Rewcastle-Brown further claimed that Morais had given her information regarding the MACC probe into former SRC International and that the lawyer had planned to meet her in London.

Former MACC chief Abu Kassim Mohamed denied that Morais was involved in the 1MDB probe - which looked at both the alleged RM42 million SRC International transfer, as well as the RM2.6 billion donation from a Saudi royal into Najib's accounts.

He said Morais was transferred out of MACC a year before the 1MDB probe began.

Apandi, who later cleared Najib of any wrongdoing, also said that Morais was not involved in the investigation.

Morais was murdered in September 2015. He was reported missing on Sept 4 and his remains were found stuffed into a concrete-filled drum two weeks later on Sept 16.

Six men have been charged with the murder while a pathologist has been accused of abetment. The trial is still ongoing. Morais had acted as prosecutor in a corruption case against the pathologist.

Sarawak Report has been accused of conspiring against Najib to oust him from power by publishing false allegations. Rewcastle-Brown has denied this.

The defamation suit filed by the PAS president concerns a Sarawak Report article which suggested that the Islamist party received some RM90 million from Najib.- Mkini