GEORGE TOWN, March 17 — Umno lawyer Tan Sri Shafee Abdullah today questioned the Malaysian Bar’s standing to seek judicial review of the Attorney-General’s decision on the RM2.6 billion issue, saying it could not demonstrate how it was affected by the matter.
He also said the Bar was not in possession of all the information regarding the investigations on the RM2.6 billion deposited in the prime minister’s accounts and a former 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) unit, which undermined its arguments in seeking for the courts to examine the AG’s decisions on both cases.
Without access to details that he said would only be known to the AG and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), Shafee said it was questionable how the Bar could claim that Tan Sri Mohd Apandi Ali acted inappropriately.
"The Bar Council will not have the full facts pertaining to the issue. If they don't have the full facts, how will they persuade the court to review the AG's decision?" Shafee said.
"The Bar Council is not the victim, they may not have locus standi and they could be regarded as being a busybody," he told reporters when met in the Dewan Rakyat lobby here today, prior to his meeting with an Umno lawmaker.
Shafee said that under British common law that also serves as the basis of the Malaysian legal system, a party may only seek judicial review if he is directly affected by the matter.
The Bar on Tuesday filed for judicial review of Apandi’s decision on January 26 to clear the prime minister of wrongdoing in both cases and that ordered the MACC to close the investigation papers.
Apandi previously categorised the RM2.6 billion deposited in Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s accounts ahead of Election 2013 as a political donation from an unnamed Saudi royal, the bulk of which has been returned.
The Malaysian Bar’s judicial review application also seeks to disqualify the AG from making any further decisions on the matters covered by the MACC’s investigation papers, citing possible conflict of interest.
-themalaymailonline-
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