PROF Dr Sundra Rajoo, who was last night detained by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), resigned as Asian International Arbitration Centre (AIAC) director this morning.

In confirming this, his lawyer Phillip Koh said that it was Sundra’s wish to protect the institution’s good name.

“Yes, he has (resigned) as his desire is that AIAC, as an institution, and the office of the director, must be protected and be inviolate,” Koh told The Malaysian Insight.

It was learnt that Sundra tendered his resignation this morning while he was in the MACC’s custody.

He was taken to the Putrajaya magistrates’ court this morning, where the MACC had applied for a seven-day remand order.

That application, however, was rejected by the magistrate on the grounds that the MACC had no jurisdiction to detain Sundra, who is a high officer and protected under the International Organisations (Privileges and Immunities) Act 1992 (Act 485).

Sundra Rajoo was appointed AIAC director in 2010. It is learnt that his contract is set to expire in February next year.

The AIAC was previously known as the Kuala Lumpur Regional Centre for Arbitration (KLRCA), and was renamed in February this year.

AIAC was the first of its kind to be established under the Asian African Legal Consultative Organisation (AALCO), an international organisation comprising 47-member states from across the region.

Formed in an agreement between Malaysia and AALCO, the AIAC is a not-for-profit, non-governmental international arbitral institution which has been accorded independence and certain privileges and immunity by the Malaysian government for the purposes of executing its functions.

AIAC’s role is to assist in resolving cross-border disputes and to counsel companies, senior management and stakeholders through the international arbitration process. Arbitration is the legal resolution of disputes outside the courts.

Sundra is also the president of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (CIArb) since 2016. He is also the founding president of the Society of Construction Law Malaysia and the past president of the Asia Pacific Regional Arbitration Grouping (APRAG), which is a federation of nearly 40 arbitral institutions in the Asia Pacific region, according to the AIAC website.  

Sundra read law at the University of London, England. He holds a Masters degree in Construction Law and Arbitration (With Merit) from Leeds Metropolitan University and a Master in Philosophy in Law from Manchester University, according to his private arbitration website. – November 21, 2018.