Mohamed Apandi Ali | |
---|---|
9th Attorney General of Malaysia | |
In office 27 July 2015 –4 June 2018 | |
Monarchs | Abdul Halim Muhammad V |
Prime Minister | Najib Razak Mahathir Mohamad |
Preceded by | Abdul Gani Patail |
Succeeded by | Tommy Thomas |
Personal details | |
Born | Kota Bharu,Kelantan,Federation of Malaya (now Malaysia) | 11 February 1950
Political party | United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) |
Other political affiliations | Barisan Nasional (BN) |
Spouse | Faridah Begum K.A. Abdul Kader |
Children | 7 |
Alma mater | University of London (LL.B.) |
Mohamed Apandi bin Ali (born 11 February 1950) is a Malaysian lawyer and politician who was the Attorney General of Malaysia from 2015 to 2018. Six months after assuming office,he cleared then prime minister Najib Razak of any wrongdoing in the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) and SRC International cases and marked the investigation for "no further action". [1] [2]
Apandi graduated with a Bachelor of Laws (Honours) from the University of London in 1972,and was called to the Bar of England and Wales in 1973. [3]
In 1973,Apandi joined the Malaysian Judicial and Legal Service,with his first assignment as Magistrate at Kuala Terengganu. Subsequently,he served as Director of Legal Aid in Kota Bharu,Kelantan (1975–77),Deputy Public Prosecutor for the States of Kelantan and Terengganu (1977–80),and Legal Advisor to the Ministry of Trade and Industry Malaysia (1980–82).
Between 1982 until 2003,Apandi engaged in private practice. In 1990,he contested the Pengkalan Chapa,Kelantan constituency as a candidate for the United Malay National Organization but lost with 26.5 percent of the votes. [4]
In 2003,he was appointed as a Judicial Commissioner of the High Court of Malaya,Kuantan,and the next year,appointed as a Judge of the High Court of Malaya,first serving in Kuantan and then Kuala Lumpur. In April 2010,he was elevated to the Court of Appeal,Putrajaya,and in September 2013,to judge of the Federal Court,Putrajaya. [3]
From 2013 to 2015,Apandi served as a judge of the Federal Court,which is Malaysia's highest court of appeal. [5] On 27 July 2015,then Prime Minister Najib Razak summarily dismissed the Attorney General of Malaysia,Abdul Gani Patail,and appointed Apandi to replace him. [6] Apandi served as Attorney General until dismissed by then Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad on 4 June 2018. [7]
At a press conference on 26 January 2016,Apandi cleared Prime Minister Najib Razak of wrongdoing in relation to the transfer of funds from Malaysian government company SRC to his personal bank accounts. Apandi declared that he was satisfied that the funds originated from a personal donation by the royal family of Saudi Arabia,had been returned,and marked the investigation for no further action. [1]
However,at the press conference,Apandi contradicted himself by presenting two flow-charts ostensibly showing the Saudi donations but that actually showed that the funds originated from SRC. [8] [9] The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission revealed that it intended to refer Apandi's decision of no further action to an independent review panel. [10]
Former MCA president Ling Liong Sik challenged Apandi's conclusion. [11] "People are shocked. ... I was having a dinner with an ex-minister,and he asked me to name one person who is given RM2.6 billion and returns it. ... (This) cannot be true. Do you believe it? If you return RM10 which I gave you,it's okay (but not RM2.6 billion). ... You are taking the people for fools." [11]
On 11 May 2018,then Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said he would review Apandi,saying he “undermined his own credibility.”Mahathir accused Apandi of breaking the law by hiding evidence on the misappropriation of funds in sovereign investment firm 1MDB. [12]
On 15 May 2018,Mahathir placed Apandi on leave. Apandi and three other officials were barred from leaving Malaysia. [13] On 4 June,Apandi was dismissed as Attorney General,and replaced by Tommy Thomas. [7]
On 15 April 2021,during the hearing of the appeal of Najib Razak against his conviction by the High Court of abuse of office,criminal breach of trust,and money laundering,lead prosecutor V Sithambaram referred to findings of the High Court. The High Court noted that the two flow charts which Apandi held up during the 26 January 2016 press conference clearly showed that the funds which entered Najib's accounts were actually from Malaysian government company SRC and not from Arab donations or any other source. [14] In its judgement denying Najib's appeal,the Court of Appeal referred to the two flow charts as proving Najib's guilt. [15]
On 27 July 2022,Klang MP Charles Santiago lodged a police report against Apandi for abuse of power in covering up investigations into the SRC International and 1MDB matters. [16] [17] [18] The next day,Selangor deputy police chief Sasikala Devi Subramaniam revealed that federal police had opened an investigation of Apandi under Section 217 of the Penal Code for abuse of power,while handling investigations into the now defunct 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB). [19] [20]
In 2009,Indonesian businessman,Djoko Tjandra,was convicted of corruption related to Bank Bali. He absconded to Papua New Guinea and then to Malaysia. On 22 July 2020,former Attorney General of Indonesia,Muhammad Prasetyo,recounted that Apandi had personally requested that he drop Djoko's conviction and allow him to return to Indonesia as a free man. [21] Malaysiakini contacted Apandi for comment but he declined. [22]
On 5 July 2019,Apandi sued Member of Parliament for Iskandar Puteri and Democratic Action Party adviser Lim Kit Siang regarding an article entitled "Dangerous fallacy to think Malaysia’s on the road to integrity" that Lim had published on May 6,2019. Apandi claimed that the article had libelled him by saying that he was involved in crime and had abetted in the 1MDB scandal,was a person with no morals and integrity,was unethical and had abused his power when he was the Attorney General. [23]
On 23 May 2022,Judge Azimah Omar of the High Court dismissed Apandi's suit and ordered Apandi to pay RM80,000 in costs to Lim. Judge Azimah said that Lim had succeeded in his defence of fair comment and qualified privilege. “Indeed,the plaintiff’s action and inaction seemed to have assisted 1MDB and those (purportedly) involved. ... The defendant (Lim) had concrete evidence to justify his statement,and the evidence gave reasonable grounds to investigate the plaintiff for cover-ups in 1MDB". [24] [25] [26] [27]
In grounds of decision totalling 100 pages,Judge Azimah Omar remarked that Apandi seemed disinterested and at times self contradictory when testifying in the suit against Lim Kit Siang. [28] [29] [30] [31] Apandi subsequently appealed the verdict. [32] [33] [34]
Year | Constituency | Candidate | Votes | Pct | Opponent(s) | Votes | Pct | Ballots cast | Majority | Turnout | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1990 | P018 Pengkalan Chepa,Kelantan | Mohamed Apandi Ali (UMNO) | 9,874 | 26.55% | Nik Abdullah Arshad (PAS) | 27,321 | 73.45% | 37,901 | 17,447 | 75.96% |
Mohammad Najib bin Tun Haji Abdul Razak is a Malaysian politician who served as the sixth Prime Minister of Malaysia from 2009 to 2018. In 2020,he was convicted of corruption in the 1Malaysia Development Berhad scandal,one of the largest money-laundering and embezzlement scandals in history. He is the son of former prime minister Abdul Razak Hussein. Najib Razak was the chairman of the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition from April 2009 to May 2018 and the president of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) from November 2008 to May 2018,which had maintained control of Malaysia's government with a parliamentary majority for more than sixty years until the coalition's defeat in the 2018 general election.
Dato' Mohd Zaid bin Ibrahim is a Malaysian politician,lawyer and former Minister in the Prime Minister's Department for Legal Affairs and Judicial Reform. He was previously a Senator in the Dewan Negara,the upper chamber of the Parliament of Malaysia.
Ling Liong Sik is a retired Malaysian politician. He was the sixth president of the Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA),a component party of Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition and also the former Malaysian Minister for Transport. Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak filed the suit against Ling Liong Sik on 2015,alleging that Ling had made libellous remarks against him in an article carried on a news portal.
This is a timeline of Malaysian history,comprising important legal and territorial changes and political events in Malaysia and its predecessor states. To read about the background to these events,see History of Malaysia.
Tan Sri Datuk Seri Panglima Abdul Gani bin Patail is a Malaysian prosecutor. He was the Attorney General of Malaysia from 2002 to 2015,the first from Sabah to hold the position.
Rosmah binti Mansor is the second wife of former Prime Minister of Malaysia,Najib Razak. Like her husband,she was implicated in the 1Malaysia Development Berhad scandal (1MDB). On 1 September 2022,she was found guilty of corruption in relation to a school electricity project,fined $303m and sentenced to ten years imprisonment.
The 1Malaysia Development Berhad scandal,often referred to as the 1MDB scandal or just 1MDB,is an ongoing corruption,bribery and money laundering conspiracy in which the Malaysian sovereign wealth fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) was systematically embezzled,with assets diverted globally by the perpetrators of the scheme. Although it began in 2009 in Malaysia,the scandal's global scope implicated institutions and individuals in politics,banking,and entertainment,and led to criminal investigations in a number of nations. The 1MDB scandal has been described as "one of the world's greatest financial scandals" and declared by the United States Department of Justice as the "largest kleptocracy case to date" in 2016.
The Citizens' Declaration was a declaration issued by an array of Malaysian political leaders on 4 March 2016 to demand Prime Minister Najib Razak's resignation from office. It was launched at a press conference chaired by former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.
Mohd Nazifuddin bin Mohammad Najib or more commonly known as Nazif Najib is a Malaysian businessman and the son of Najib Razak,the former Prime Minister of Malaysia. On 24 July 2019,the government had filed a tax evasion lawsuit through the Inland Revenue Board (IRB),against Nazifuddin to claim RM37.6 million in unpaid taxes since 2011 till 2017. On 18 May 2021,he has been served with a bankruptcy notice following his failure to pay RM37.6 million in taxes he owes the Inland Revenue Board (IRB).
2018 in Malaysia is Malaysia's 61st anniversary of its independence and 55th anniversary of Malaysia's formation.
Khalid bin Abu Bakar is a retired Malaysian police officer who served as the 10th Inspector-General of Police of Malaysia (IGP),succeeding Ismail Omar. He retired as IGP on 4 September 2017 and was succeeded by Mohamad Fuzi Harun. A day after he retired from the police,Khalid was appointed chairman of Prasarana Malaysia by the Prime Minister of Malaysia,Najib Razak.
This is a list of events in the year 2019 in Malaysia.
Tengku Maimun binti Tuan Mat is a Malaysian lawyer who has served as the 10th Chief Justice of Malaysia since May 2019. She is the first woman to ascend to the highest judicial office of the country.
Dato' Sri Mohamad Shukri bin Abdull,is the fourth and former chief commissioner of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).
Events in the year 2020 in Malaysia.
Events in the year 2021 in Malaysia.
Mohamed Shafee bin Mohamed Abdullah is a Malaysian lawyer.
Events in the year 2022 in Malaysia.
The 1Malaysia Development Berhad scandal is an ongoing political scandal in Malaysia,in which then-Prime Minister Najib Razak was accused of channeling over RM 2.67 billion into his personal bank accounts from 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB),a government-run strategic development company. 1MDB was overseen by Najib as head of its advisory board. Following repeated calls for resignation by the public,Najib lost power in the 2018 Malaysian general election,and is currently on trial along with several key figures involved.
Najib Razak is the 6th Prime Minister of Malaysia,the son of former 2nd prime minister Abdul Razak Hussein. One of the most controversial leaders of the 21st century,his period of rule was marked by corruption,an extravagant lifestyle,and crackdown on free speech.