Incorrect - Apandi says of claim he did not accede to Swiss request

Former attorney-general Mohamed Apandi Ali said it was incorrect to claim that he had refused to cooperate with Swiss authorities on the 1MDB investigation.

This was after Swiss attorney-general Michael Lauber, after meeting with newly-minted Malaysian attorney-general Tommy Thomas, said Apandi "didn't want to cooperate" in 2016.

Apandi said he could not accede to the Swiss request due to legal reasons.

"It is not correct to say that I had refused to cooperate with the Swiss attorney-general, whom I met twice in Switzerland, over this issue.

"At the material time, when the request was sent to Malaysia in 2016, the Malaysian police was still investigating the 1MDB case.

"I recall that in my written reply to Switzerland, as the attorney-general then, that since the Malaysian investigation was still ongoing, to accede to the Swiss request could prejudice the criminal matter in Malaysia," he told Malaysiakini.

Apandi said he was strictly following the Section 20(1)(I) of the Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Act 2002 (Act 621).

Section 20(1)(i) of the law, which concerns refusal of assistance, states that a request by a foreign state shall be refused if in the opinion of the attorney-general, "the provision of assistance would affect the sovereignty, security, public order or other essential public interest of Malaysia".

"I was just abiding by the laws that govern such cooperation in mutual legal assistance.

"To say that I am or was uncooperative is obviously unfair and uncalled for; particularly when such a remark is made when I am no longer the attorney-general of Malaysia," he said. -Mkini