Muda president Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman claimed that Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has set a “clear precedent” when it comes to the dismissal of corruption cases in court.
“After this, when corruption cases are dropped one by one, the attorney-general (AG) - who is appointed by the prime minister – will be the main shield,” Syed Saddiq said, implying that the AG would be a scapegoat.
The Muar MP said this in a post uploaded on X, previously known as Twitter, last night.
This came after the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) withdrew 47 corruption charges against Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.
The AGC’s move to withdraw Zahid’s charges led to the Kuala Lumpur High Court granting the Umno president a discharge not amounting to acquittal (DNAA).
The DNAA granted to Zahid opens the possibility of the Umno president being recharged in the future if prosecutors wish to revisit the matter.
In the Dewan Rakyat yesterday, Anwar, when explaining the issue surrounding Zahid’s DNAA said, “When the AG made the decision, I asked him (about it), yes.
“I did not discuss his decision, I asked him for justification, for clarification.”
Syed Saddiq then expressed concerns that future administrations will use the precedent set by a “reform-led government” when it comes to high-profile corruption cases.
“If he (Anwar) can, so can future prime ministers. Time will tell.”
On Sept 12, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reform) Azalina Othman Said announced that two special task forces would be formed to expedite the separation of roles and powers between the attorney-general and public prosecutor.
She said the formation of the task forces was decided at the maiden meeting to scrutinise the matter.
Stating that the government is committed to implementing the reform, she said one task force would be entrusted with comparative research while the other would look into the technical aspects.
Azalina said the technical task force would prepare an interim report on the “comprehensive empirical research” regarding the separation of the roles within a one-year timeframe for the cabinet.
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