FORMER Federal Court judge Gopal Sri Ram allegedly asked Mohamed Apandi Ali to arrest Najib Razak for corruption in 2018, just months before the 14th general election, the former attorney-general said in a Facebook post tonight.

The meeting took place at Apandi’s home in January 2018, where Sri Ram allegedly told Apandi he was instructed by Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who was then chairman of Pakatan Harapan, to arrest the then prime minister.

“One evening in January 2018, Datuk Seri Gopal Sri Ram came to my house after a couple of calls wanting to speak to me personally and privately.

“Since he was a former brother judge, I obliged,” Apandi said in a post he described as “a prelude to a chapter in my memoirs”.

Apandi confirmed to The Malaysian Insight that his Facebook post is a chapter of a memoir he intends to publish this year.

According to the post, Sri Ram initially told Apandi he had asked for the meeting to unfreeze the accounts of a law firm as the lawyers who had engaged him, needed to be paid. 

Sri Ram turned up with a young Chinese lawyer at Apandi’s home. 

The former judge then allegedly confided that the matter of the law firm was only an excuse to meet Apandi and that “he had a bigger agenda at hand.”

“Tun M (Mahathir) sent me to see you,” Sri Ram was alleged to have said.

“He wants you to arrest Najib at his office. You go tomorrow at 2pm. We have arranged for police in Putrajaya to do what is necessary on your instructions.

“We have also arranged for a magistrate to issue the remand order when he is brought before him or her.

“Brother, you will be a hero in the eyes of the people and you will be the first A-G to arrest a sitting prime minister.

“Don’t worry, we have laid the ground plans, all I need now is for you to agree.”

Apandi then asked Sri Ram on what grounds was Najib supposed to be arrested. 

Sri Ram allegedly replied: “Brother, people out there are frustrated and unhappy, the fact that you arrest him, never mind the reason, will make people happy.”

In his post, Apandi claimed to have evidence in the form of a close-circuit television recording, as well as eyewitnesses to the meeting with Sri Ram.

Sri Ram is currently the lead prosecutor in Najib’s 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) trial.

He is also leading the prosecution in Najib’s and former 1MDB chief executive officer Arul Kanda Kandasamy’s joint trial on the tampering of 1MDB audit report, Rosmah Mansor’s graft trial, and the money-laundering trial of Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, who is Najib’s lawyer. 

The Malaysian Insight has contacted Sri Ram and is waiting for a response. – June 10, 2020.