Former attorney-general Mohamed Apandi Ali claims he has “a lot more” to tell following his allegation yesterday implicating ex-federal court judge Gopal Sri Ram and Dr Mahathir Mohamad in a plot concerning Najib Abdul Razak.
Speaking to the TwentyTwo13 portal, Apandi (above) said the chapter concerning Sri Ram made up only a “small part” of his memoirs.
“There are so many other things. Batu Puteh incident […] why Mahathir withdrew the case at the eleventh hour although everything had been filed and fixed for hearing.”
“Many, many stories. A lot to write, a lot to tell,” he was quoted as saying last night.
He was referring to the June 2018 withdrawal of Malaysia’s suit at the International Court of Justice to overturn its 2008 ruling awarding legal jurisdiction of Pulau Batu Puteh (Pedra Branca) to Singapore.
This was done when Apandi had been told to go on a leave of absence by Mahathir, then the prime minister of the Pakatan Harapan government, with the former’s duties taken over by the solicitor-general.
This following accusation that Apandi had attempted to cover-up Najib’s alleged wrongdoings in the 1MDB scandal.
Apandi was appointed attorney-general by Najib in 2015 to replace Abdul Gani Patail who was then heading a special task force to investigate the millions in the former premier's personal bank accounts.
Apandi later cleared Najib of any offence with regard to the controversial RM2.6 billion (US$681 million) donation and the RM42 million from SRC International deposited into his personal bank accounts.
The MACC stated last year that it was not investigating the former attorney-general.
In a social media posting yesterday, Apandi claimed Sri Ram approached him at his house in January 2018 under the instruction of Mahathir to coax him to play a role in having Najib arrested.
Sri Ram, who is currently the senior public prosecutor in the 1MDB-linked criminal cases against Najib, was allegedly accompanied by a "young Chinese lawyer" at the time.
The identity of the young lawyer is not known but Apandi has agreed with a description by the portal that the former was “known by his initials and drives luxury cars”.
Malaysiakini has contacted Sri Ram but he has yet to respond. However, he told Free Malaysia Today that he had no comment on the matter.
According to TwentyTwo13 further, Apandi insisted he bore no grudge against Sri Ram.
“Because I find Gopal Sri Ram is acting as if he is the AG. He is not the AG. His shoes are getting too big for him. That’s all.
“I have no grudge against him but people need to know,” he said, adding he did not fear any repercussion from his revelations.
He reiterated the whole meeting was captured on CCTV in his house and took place in front of his bodyguards.
“What repercussions? I speak nothing but the truth and fear nothing but the truth.
“[...] it’s all there. I have seven bodyguards and they are all from the Special Branch. It’s all recorded.”
He also stressed that his actions were not politically-motivated, claiming to have severed ties with Umno when he became judicial commissioner back in 2003.
He said: “They (critics) keep on harping on this. When the (Dewan Rakyat) speaker (Mohamad) Ariff (Mohd Yusof) was a PAS member and stood as a PAS candidate (in the 2004 general election), nobody brought it up.
“Why victimise me?” - Mkini
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