SPECIAL Select Committee on Human Rights, Elections and Institutional Reform (JKPK) chairman William Leong said the current attorney general and his predecessor will still be summoned to its proceedings next month. 

He said the proceedings would go on despite Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim having explained in Dewan Rakyat the decision to grant Ahmad Zahid Hamidi a discharge not amounting to an acquittal (DNAA).

Leong added that the committee’s main purpose was to study the proposal to separate the duties of the public prosecutor and the attorney general. 

“The problem of public perception is that there is interference in the public prosecutor’s duties, starting from the attorney general performing his duties as a legal adviser to the government and also as a public prosecutor,” he told Malay-language daily Berita Harian. 

He was asked whether current and former Attorneys General Ahmad Terrirudin Mohd Salleh and Idrus Harun would still be invited to explain the decision to discharge Zahid from 47 charges related to the Akalbudi Foundation, even after Anwar explained it in Dewan Rakyat last Tuesday.

The prime minister had said there was a precedent regarding the DNAA order.

Anwar also welcomed anyone to come forward and provide evidence regarding his alleged interference in the case.

Last week, Leong said JKPK would call up Ahmad Terrirudin and Idrus to explain the issue.

Previously, he informed Berita Harian that the committee was studying a proposal to separate the role of the public prosecutor from the attorney general’s office, in addition to examining issues related to the DNAA decision. – September 24, 2023.