AD hoc prosecutor Gopal Sri Ram has denied he was sent by Dr Mahathir Mohamad to coax former attorney-general Mohamed Apandi Ali to arrest then prime minister Najib Razak in January 2018.

Apandi had claimed in an affidavit filed last month Sri Ram tried to coax him to have Najib arrested for corruption just months before the 2018 general election. Apandi had earlier made the allegation in a Facebook post.

In a counter-affidavit to Najib and Apandi’s affidavits on June 12, Sri Ram admitted he had indeed visited Apandi at his home.

“I attended to Apandi and Puan Sri Faridah at their home in a purely professional capacity. JR Tey (a lawyer) was in attendance with me,” Sri Ram said in a court document filed at the Kuala Lumpur High Court registry yesterday.

“During the meeting at their home, I rendered some advice that is the subject matter of legal professional privilege. I am therefore unable to reveal the same.”

Sri Ram said Apandi appeared “visibly upset” by the attacks from cybertroopers.

“In the course of the conversation, I advised Apandi that it appeared there was evidence in the public domain against Najib and that it was plainly his duty to have Najib arrested and charged.

“At no time during our conversation did I ever mention I had been sent by Tun M (Dr Mahathir).”

Sri Ram added there was never a discussion with Apandi to unfreeze the bank accounts of an unnamed law firm, as claimed by the latter.

He also denied the conversation quoted in Apandi’s affidavit, where the prosecutor allegedly said: “Tun M sent me to see you.

“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 attorney-general to arrest a sitting prime minister.”

In his own affidavit, Sri Ram said “such conversation did not take place”.

Najib faces 42 charges spread over five criminal trials, three of which are ongoing.

Sri Ram, a former Federal Court judge, is the lead prosecutor in the former prime minister’s 1Malaysia Development Bhd trial.

He also heads the prosecution in Najib and former 1MDB chief executive Arul Kanda Kandasamy’s joint trial over the tampering of the state investor’s audit report, the graft trial of Najib’s wife, Rosmah Mansor, and the money-laundering trial of Najib’s lawyer, Muhammad Shafee Abdullah.

Apandi’s affidavit was used in judicial review applications by Najib and Shafee, who are challenging the legality of Sri Ram’s appointment as prosecutor. – July 7, 2020.