BUT WHO IS THE BAD ONE HERE – APANDI OR SRI RAM? ‘TUN MAHATHIR SENT ME TO SEE YOU. HE WANTS YOU TO ARREST NAJIB AT HIS OFFICE’ – SRI RAM SILENT ON DISGRACED EX-AG’S ‘EXPOSE’: TRUE OR NOT, THE CONTROVERSY IS WHY APANDI NEEDED ANYONE TO TELL HIM TO ARREST NAJIB WITH THE WEALTH OF EVIDENCE AT HAND – DID APANDI REFUSE FOR COVERT, SELF-INTERESTS?

FORMER Federal Court judge Gopal Sri Ram has declined to comment on allegations that he attempted to persuade former attorney-general Mohamed Apandi Ali to get then prime minister Najib Razak arrested months before the general election in 2018, Free Malaysia Today reported.

The news site contacted Sri Ram for a comment today.

Apandi made the allegation in a Facebook post last night.

He later told The Malaysian Insight that he wrote the explosive post as he wanted to “check Sri Ram who is behaving like he is the attorney-general”.

In the post, Apandi alleged Sri Ram came to his house in January 2018 and told Apandi that he was instructed by Dr Mahathir Mohamad, then Pakatan Harapan chairman, to arrest Najib.

Apandi, who was then attorney-general, asked Sri Ram on what grounds was Najib supposed to be arrested.

Sri Ram allegedly said: “Brother, people out there are frustrated and unhappy, the fact that you arrest him, never mind the reason, will make people happy.”

Najib, however, was not arrested.

Apandi said the meeting with Sri Ram is a “a prelude to a chapter in my memoirs”, which is expected to be published by the end of the year.

“Gopal Sri Ram can deny this but I would like to caution that at that material time I was the A-G and my house was fitted with CCTV, (one specifically for the hall) and not to mention my bodyguards and the police personnel who were manning the guardhouse in front of my house – CCTV (cameras) will not lie and I, too, have witnesses.”

Sri Ram is currently the lead prosecutor in Najib’s 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) trial.

He is also leading the prosecution in the joint trial of Najib and former 1MDB chief executive officer Arul Kanda Kandasamy on the tampering of 1MDB audit report, Rosmah Mansor’s graft trial, and the money-laundering trial of Najib’s lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah.

The Malaysian Insight has contacted Sri Ram and is waiting for a response.

Sri Ram asked me to arrest Najib in 2018, says Apandi

Gopal Sri Ram says he was instructed by Pakatan Harapan chairman Dr Mahathir Mohamad to arrest Najib Razak, claims ex-attorney-general Mohamed Apandi Ali. – The Malaysian Insight file pic, June 10, 2020.

FORMER Federal Court judge Gopal Sri Ram allegedly asked Mohamed Apandi Ali to arrest Najib Razak for corruption in 2018, just months before the 14th general election, the former attorney-general said in a Facebook post tonight.

The meeting took place at Apandi’s home in January 2018, where Sri Ram allegedly told Apandi he was instructed by Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who was then chairman of Pakatan Harapan, to arrest the then prime minister.

“One evening in January 2018, Datuk Seri Gopal Sri Ram came to my house after a couple of calls wanting to speak to me personally and privately.

“Since he was a former brother judge, I obliged,” Apandi said in a post he described as “a prelude to a chapter in my memoirs”.

Apandi confirmed to The Malaysian Insight that his Facebook post is a chapter of a memoir he intends to publish this year.

According to the post, Sri Ram initially told Apandi he had asked for the meeting to unfreeze the accounts of a law firm as the lawyers who had engaged him, needed to be paid.

Sri Ram turned up with a young Chinese lawyer at Apandi’s home.

The former judge then allegedly confided that the matter of the law firm was only an excuse to meet Apandi and that “he had a bigger agenda at hand.”

“Tun M (Mahathir) sent me to see you,” Sri Ram was alleged to have said.

“He wants you to arrest Najib at his office. You go tomorrow at 2pm. We have arranged for police in Putrajaya to do what is necessary on your instructions.

“We have also arranged for a magistrate to issue the remand order when he is brought before him or her.

“Brother, you will be a hero in the eyes of the people and you will be the first A-G to arrest a sitting prime minister.

“Don’t worry, we have laid the ground plans, all I need now is for you to agree.”

Apandi then asked Sri Ram on what grounds was Najib supposed to be arrested.

Sri Ram allegedly replied: “Brother, people out there are frustrated and unhappy, the fact that you arrest him, never mind the reason, will make people happy.”

In his post, Apandi claimed to have evidence in the form of a close-circuit television recording, as well as eyewitnesses to the meeting with Sri Ram.

Sri Ram is currently the lead prosecutor in Najib’s 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) trial.

He is also leading the prosecution in Najib’s and former 1MDB chief executive officer Arul Kanda Kandasamy’s joint trial on the tampering of 1MDB audit report, Rosmah Mansor’s graft trial, and the money-laundering trial of Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, who is Najib’s lawyer.

The Malaysian Insight has contacted Sri Ram and is waiting for a response.

THE MALAYSIAN INSIGHT