Ex-AG’s bid to annul malicious prosecution suit fixed for April 6

 

Tommy Thomas said he charged N Sundra Rajoo with criminal breach of trust in 2019 because he believed that his former deputy public prosecutors had built a strong case.

KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court has fixed April 6 to hear an application by former attorney-general Tommy Thomas and 12 others to strike out a suit brought by an ex-head of a regional arbitration centre for misfeasance in public office and malicious prosecution.

Lawyer TJ Lee said, on the same day, the court would also hear another application by N Sundra Rajoo to expunge several paragraphs in Thomas’ affidavit to strike out his suit.

“Both applications will be heard via Zoom before judge Ahmad Bache at 10am on April 6,” he told FMT after a case management before a deputy court registrar.

Federal counsel Abdul Rashid Sulaiman appeared for Thomas, former Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) chief Mohamad Shukri Abdull and 11 others.

Sundra, the former director of the Asian International Arbitration Centre (AIAC), last October filed claims for false imprisonment, breach of his constitutional rights and conspiracy to injure through unlawful means.

Lee said all parties were also instructed to file their written submissions for the striking out and the expungement application on or before March 9.

In his application to annul the suit last November, Thomas said he had considered all evidence against Sundra before pressing criminal breach of trust (CBT) charges against him in 2019.

He said he had applied his mind “honestly and to the best of my ability” and affirmed that his former deputy public prosecutors had a strong case to convict Sundra.

Thomas, who was a lawyer before he was appointed attorney-general in 2018, said for Sundra to claim immunity from prosecution would put him solely on a level above the 32 million citizens.

Thomas said he did not know whether anyone had sought permission from the Asian-African Legal Consultative Organisation (AALCO), the parent body of AIAC, to waive Sundra’s immunity. “If it had happened, it was done without my knowledge.”

Last December, Sundra filed an application to delete several paragraphs in Thomas’ affidavit.

Kenned Gastron, the secretary-general of AALCO, had also filed an affidavit in reply to Thomas’ affidavit in which he claimed Thomas had knowledge as to who had asked for the waiver.

His (Gastron) affidavit included a copy of an email from Thomas asking AALCO what Sundra’s status was on his immunity.

He said AALCO had also rejected the government’s request for a waiver of the immunity. - FMT