AG must resign over letter to judge, says Puad

 

Umno Supreme Council member Puad Zarkashi said the letter to the judge was proof that the judicial system could be manipulated. (Bernama pic)

PETALING JAYA: Umno Supreme Council member Puad Zarkashi has called on Attorney-General Idrus Harun to resign over a controversial letter issued by his office to the High Court.

Puad said the letter was proof that the country’s judicial system could be manipulated.

“The letter must be thoroughly investigated and the AG must resign,” he said on Facebook.

Earlier this week, a letter dated Aug 29 authored by deputy public prosecutor (DPP) Abdul Malik Ayob to judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah’s secretary went viral.

In the letter, Malik had said he was instructed to ask Sequerah to prioritise Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s corruption trial over former prime minister Najib Razak’s 1MDB trial, which the judge is also presiding over. Malik has since retracted the letter.

Yesterday, Sequerah said no one could dictate what case was to be given priority in the Kuala Lumpur High Court.

In his Facebook post today, Puad claimed there were attempts to manipulate the judiciary and undermine the government.

“There must be a conspiracy at the highest level,” he said without naming anyone.

Former law minister Zaid Ibrahim was reported as saying yesterday that Chief Justice Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat must call on Idrus to show cause why he should not face contempt of court proceedings over the letter, despite its retraction.

He told FMT that Tengku Maimun must also seek an explanation from the DPP who wrote the letter.

He said the specific nature of the request was “alarming” and was a clear show of “political interference in the judiciary”. - FMT