PRO-NAJIB EX-MACC CHIEF, OF BALI & HK SEX SCANDALS INFAMY, RETURNS TO DEFEND RIZA’S SHOCKING DISCHARGE – BY POINTING FINGER OF BLAME AT EX-JUDGE GOPAL SRI RAM

Former MACC chief Dzulkifli Ahmad has called on former judge Gopal Sri Ram to explain why the prosecution agreed to a plea bargain in Riza Aziz’s billion-ringgit money laundering case.

Dzulkifli said this was as Sri Ram is acting as senior deputy public prosecutor (DPP) in several 1MDB-linked criminal cases, which among others, involved former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak and his stepson Riza.

This after Riza, who faced five counts of laundering up to US$248 million (RM1.08 billion) allegedly misappropriated from the sovereign wealth fund, was accorded a discharge not amounting to an acquittal (DNAA) last Thursday by the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court upon application by Sri Ram.

The DNAA would be subject to the accused fulfilling his end of the agreement, including returning an estimated US$107.3 million (RM465.3 million) to the government.

“Sri Ram was the DPP appointed by (former attorney-general) Tommy Thomas to handle 1MDB cases. Therefore, the AG (Idrus Harun) must be acting upon his advice.

“So Sri Ram must explain why Riza’s representation was accepted. So that no one would be ‘questioning’ or be ‘confused’. Don’t just sit quietly,” Dzulkifli said in a series of Twitter postings on Sunday.

Sri Ram, a retired Federal Court judge, was appointed by Thomas in August 2018 to spearhead the prosecution charge in the 1MDB cases.

Riza, the producer of The Wolf of Wall Street and Dumb and Dumber To was charged in July last year for allegedly receiving the money on five occasions between 2011 and 2012 through the bank account of Red Granite, a Hollywood production company he co-founded.

The letter of representation by Riza’s lawyers was first sent to the prosecution on Nov 18, 2019.

Thomas has repeatedly denied agreeing to the settling of the case with the accused. Despite this, Idrus said he went ahead with the bargain as he had been advised that his predecessor had agreed to it “in principle”.

Idrus also alleged he was advised that Sri Ram, after consulting with former MACC chief Latheefa Koya, suggested the anti-graft body accept the deal.

“I have also been advised that Thomas had agreed to the suggestion in principle. This paved the way for further negotiations and planning of the mechanism to be adopted, to take place,” Idrus stated.

However, when contacted by Malaysiakini on Sunday, Sri Ram (above) declined to comment, merely saying: “The AG has spoken and he has the final word on the matter. On our side, we can’t comment anymore.”

Even so, Thomas yesterday deemed Idrus’ claims as “fiction”.

The former once more denied sanctioning the settlement deal, saying such a move would have betrayed the trust on him held by former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad and the then-Pakatan Harapan government.

Thomas also said that while he had communicated with Sri Ram several times over the telephone between Feb 28 and May 14, 2020, the latter never raised the subject of the Riza settlement.

Thomas resigned as AG on Feb 28, following the collapse of the Harapan government, while Latheefa resigned from the MACC on March 2.

MKINI