Retired prosecutor files police report against Tommy Thomas

Updated 3 years ago · Published on 3 Feb 2021 10:19AM · 5 Comments

Former solicitor-general III Mohamad Hanafiah Zakariah says by impugning him, Tommy Thomas has also tarnished the reputation of the Attorney-General’s Chambers. – Attorney-General’s Chambers pic, February 3, 2021.

A RETIRED senior legal officer, who worked in the Attorney General’s Chambers, has filed a police report against former attorney-general Tommy Thomas for tarnishing the officer’s reputation in his memoir.

Mohamad Hanafiah Zakaria, the former solicitor-general III, is urging the police to investigate Thomas for alleging that he was incapable of prosecuting former prime minister Najib Razak for corruption in the SRC International case.

He lodged the police report yesterday at Cyberjaya police station and said Thomas should be investigated under Section 499 of the Penal Code for also blemishing the reputation of the AGC.

Hanafiah said in the report that Thomas never told him that he would lead the SRC case prosecution team, or that the A-G had thought him of being incapable of leading that team.

He said that Thomas’s writings in his book, My Story: Justice in the Wilderness, were not true and tarnished his image as a deputy public prosecutor of 33 years’ experience.

He added that Thomas had also indicated that he was a lazy prosecutor and unable to conduct the prosecution case.

On July 28 last year, Najib was sentenced to 12 years in prison and fined RM210 million after being found guilty of abuse of power in receiving RM42 million in funds from SRC International in 2014 and 2015.

Kuala Lumpur High Court judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali delivered the sentence after three hours of mitigation.

The judge also stayed the execution of the sentence and fine, pending an appeal filed by the defence.

Najib is also suing Thomas for defamation, seeking RM10 million and an apology from the senior lawyer for allegations in the recently published memoir.

Yesterday, Najib’s lawyer, Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, said he has sent a letter of demand to Thomas and expects a reply by Friday.

“If we do not receive a satisfactory reply from (Thomas) by this Friday, our clear instruction is to institute legal proceedings early next week,” Shafee said in a statement.

Hanafiah said the fact is that Thomas was only looking for an excuse to appoint lawyers who were also his friends.

“Instead, the disability was his own because soon after, I found out that Thomas had appointed V. Sithambaram to assist him in the trial of the case.”

He said that, during his tenure at numerous legal bodies, he handled various high profile cases and had not been told at any time that was unable to handle a case.

“Therefore, Thomas’s accusation that I am incapable of handling a high-profile case like SRC is not true at all and he is slandering me with the intention of tarnishing my image.” – February 3, 2021.

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Comments

  • In the civil service, even the incompetent and the lazy can rise to the top.
    For obvious reasons.

    Posted 3 years ago by Arul Inthirarajah · Reply

  • SRC case is still dangling. The truth speaks for itself.

    Posted 3 years ago by Tanahair Ku · Reply

  • Hurt pride ...... I am not surprised at what TT wrote and I trust that he got the facts right. You should be suing him and not just make a police report or are you afraid the truth will come out during the trial???

    Posted 3 years ago by Mike Mok · Reply

  • Obviously the truth hurts and the unvarnished truth as exemplified by the revelations in Tommy Thomas's book, hurts excruciatingly. Having existed in a lowest common denominator world called the civil service, Mohamad Hanafiah Zakaria cannot quite comprehend what incompetence looks like and how excellence is measured. Thus his anger at being realistically and accurately described. Pathetic state of affairs.

    Posted 3 years ago by Simple Sulaiman · Reply

  • TTs credibility will stand the test!

    Posted 3 years ago by Edwin N · Reply