You were a kamikaze AG, Zaid tells Tommy Thomas

 

Senior lawyer Zaid Ibrahim (left) said it was because of former attorney-general Tommy Thomas that Malaysia now had to deal with the Sulu demands, putting billions of the nation’s assets at risk.

PETALING JAYA: Senior lawyer Zaid Ibrahim has pushed back against former attorney-general (AG) Tommy Thomas for describing Najib Razak’s defence team’s actions in the SRC International appeal at the Federal Court as “suicidal” and akin to “kamikaze”.

“Actually, the title of kamikaze is better suited for Thomas,” said Zaid in a video posted on Facebook.

“It’s because of him that we have the problem of the Sulu demands, which has put billions of our country’s assets at risk,” the former law minister added.

Zaid also challenged Thomas to come clean on why he did not charge implicated family members of former Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) governor Zeti Akhtar Aziz who were said to have received 1MDB funds.

“He says he couldn’t do so because the probe was not completed when he was the AG,” Zaid noted, questioning whether that answer was true.

“You said yourself that you knew about these accusations. The question is, did you tell the defence team, Najib’s lawyers, what you knew,” he told Thomas.

“Singapore charged Zeti’s family as far back as 2018,” he said, adding that this would have been known to the former AG as it occurred during his tenure.

“So, if you want to give excuses, give reasonable excuses.”

He also questioned Thomas’ role in the appointment of judges during his stint as AG.

According to Zaid, the former AG had claimed in his memoirs that he (Thomas) had helped former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad appoint top judges.

“If in your book you said Mahathir and you appointed the chief justice, then this is a wrong and invalid process,” said Zaid.

“The names of judges submitted for the consent of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong must come from the Judicial Appointments Committee (JAC).

“I know, because I am the one who (conceptualised) the JAC with (former attorney-general) Gani Patail,” he added.

Zaid was responding to statements made by Thomas in an interview published by Malaysiakini.

In the interview, Thomas claimed that Najib’s lawyers’ refusal to submit at the former prime minister’s final appeal were actions unacceptable anywhere in the British Commonwealth, and that the lawyers “were the authors of their own misfortune”.

Thomas also suggested during the interview that the defence team’s complaint of judicial bias, its refusal to make new submissions at the apex court appeal, and its attempts to delay proceedings were due to a lack of merits in the defence case put forward on Najib’s behalf.

Zaid said Thomas should know better.

“The issues involved in this case were different. (Thomas) should take a more understanding view of the matter. He should not generalise.”

In his video, Zaid referenced Thomas’s controversial book “My Story: Justice in the Wilderness,” which was published in January last year.

Last week, law minister Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said a panel set up to probe allegations contained in the book had completed its investigations. A final report will be presented to the Cabinet soon. - FMT