THE family of fireman Muhammad Adib Mohd Kassim want Attorney-General Tommy Thomas to apologise if he is in contempt of court, said their lawyer Mohamed Haniff Khatri Abdulla. 

Haniff said his clients merely want an apology from Thomas and were not seeking to have him imprisoned for contempt.
 
“Adib’s family does not desire to ask that the A-G (Thomas) be reprimanded. That’s not the intention. 

“If at all the court finds that he is in contempt, all the family want is an apology,” he said at the Shah Alam High Court today.

Haniff said there was reason to believe that Thomas’s statement that his clients’ former lawyer Syazlin Mansor should not have attended the inquest verged on contempt.

Syazlin was representing the Housing and Local Government Ministry, the Fire and Rescue Department and Adib’s family in the inquest when she quit abruptly in May, saying nothing more than she had been told to do so.

Haniff said that Thomas had said Syazlin’s conduct in the inquest did not match the stand of the A-G.

“That statement that he made amounts to contempt. In an inquest nobody has the right to take a stand until it is over. 

“We will identify all the other issues (leading to contempt) later in court.”

Last month, Haniff filed an ex parte application on behalf of the family to cite Thomas for contempt of court.

Thomas had said in a statement that the Attorney-General’s Chambers had withdrawn Syazlin’s services because her representing two parties could cause a conflict of interest in the inquest that was set up to discover the circumstances leading to the fireman’s death in December.

Haniff said the family wants assurances from Thomas that similar incidents will not be repeated.

“The justice system and the rule of law must be obeyed.”

On the two issues, concerning the ex parte application, coroner Rofiah Mohamad said the deputy public prosecutors representing Thomas can only assist in the hearing of the application to the court, and assist in legal matters.

“The Attorney-General’s Chambers also cannot refer to the two affidavits that it had filed.”

Rofiah has set August 21 for the ex parte application to be heard.

Last month, Haniff had raised two issues that must be handled before Rofiah begin to hear the ex parte application.

“One is, how much can the A-G engage in the ex parte proceedings? The other is related to the two affidavits filed by the A-G in his application.”

Adib was injured during riots at the Seafield temple on November 27. He died at the National Heart Institute on December 17. – August 9, 2019.