FORMER attorney-general Tommy Thomas today accused the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) of lying by insisting that he had agreed to have Riza Aziz conditionally discharged for alleged money laundering.
Thomas said even after he had corrected the MACC’s press statement on May 14, the anti-graft agency still stood by its first statement.
“This is absolutely shocking because MACC were continuing with the lie after the truth had been pointed out to them.
“MACC had actual knowledge that the final paragraph of the (first) press statement that ‘the agreement between the prosecution and the accused through representation in court was a decision considered and agreed by the former Attorney General, Tan Sri Tommy Thomas’ is clearly false,” Thomas said in a statement.
Thomas, who resigned as attorney-general on February 28 after the Pakatan Harapan government collapsed, said he had been unfairly dragged into the decision regarding Riza’s discharge not amounting to an acquittal (DNAA).
Riza was granted the DNAA by the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court on May 14 on charges of money laundering US$248 million (RM1.07 billion) via a Hollywood production house.
Thomas said it had been his decision to have Riza charged in the first place, which took place on July 5 last year.
“It defies credibility that if their (MACC’s) fiction has any factual foundation, it would mean that I took the decision to drop the prosecution against Riza on or before February 28, but my decision was only implemented in court two-and-a-half months thereafter.”
Retracing the case’s timeline, Thomas said Riza’s lawyers had submitted written representations on November 18 last year for a review of the charges against him, which was nothing unusual.
Thomas said he did not get involved and instructed ad hoc prosecutor Gopal Sri Ram to study the matter and recommend a response to the Attorney-General’s Chambers.
“Until my resignation, I had not received any advice from Sri Ram. Thus, I did not decide on the representations of Riza prior to my resignation.”
He said at case management on March 12, the deputy public prosecutor had applied for a new date to allow the AGC to make a decision on Riza’s representation.
“DPP’s request was to allow the newly appointed A-G time to review the representation, according to media reports. Apparently the case was postponed to April 2.
“On April 2, Riza’s counsel Hariharan Singh was reported in the media to have said that he was still awaiting a reply from AGC to his client’s representation.
“On these undisputed facts, no decision had been made by prosecution on Riza’s representation as late as April 2.
“This was more than a month after I resigned from my post. It follows that the decision to accept Riza’s representation that resulted in the granting of his DNAA, must have been made between April 2 and May 14, when I was no longer the A-G.”
Riza’s DNAA has been criticised as sending the wrong signal to the public and raised questions about the Perikatan Nasional government’s seriousness about fighting corruption.
Thomas was replaced by former Federal Court judge Idrus Harun on March 6 as A-G.
The MACC’s statement on the day of Riza’s conditional discharge stated that the DNAA was part of an agreement to help Putrajaya recover US$107.3 million in assets.
The conditional discharge still gives the prosecution the right to reinstate the charges if the agreement is not completed. – May 16, 2020.
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