When will RCI on former AG’s memoir commence, asks Puad

 

Law and institutional reform minister Azalina Othman Said said the legal affairs division at the Prime Minister’s Department is fine-tuning the setting up of the RCI into Tommy Thomas’ memoir.

PETALING JAYA: Umno Supreme Council member Puad Zarkashi has asked when the public inquiry into the controversial memoir of former attorney-general Tommy Thomas will begin.

A royal commission of inquiry (RCI) has yet to be formed, four months after the Cabinet agreed to carry out an investigation into the book.

“When can we expect the RCI to commence? The people are kept waiting. Malaysia is infamous for delaying justice,” Puad said in a Facebook post today.

He also questioned whether the attorney-general’s chambers (AGC) was inefficient and whether there was interference from within.

Puad also called for a separation between the public prosecutor’s office and the AGC.

Last week, the Dewan Rakyat was told that officials from the Prime Minister’s Department are fine-tuning the setting up of the RCI into Thomas’ memoir.

In a written reply, law and institutional reform minister Azalina Othman Said said the matter was being refined by the department’s legal affairs division, and that a report would be submitted to the Cabinet thereafter.

The Cabinet had agreed in January to set up the panel to investigate complaints about Thomas’ memoir published in January 2021.

Numerous police reports were filed, and the book drew criticism from lawyers, politicians, the general public, and current Attorney-General Idrus Harun.

Among the controversial claims in the book was that he had discussions with then prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad on the appointments of the chief justice, the president of the Court of Appeal, and the chief judge of Sabah and Sarawak. - FMT