PAC trial: Gani Patail terminated as AG after Najib lost trust in him, court told
NATION
Tuesday, 19 Nov 20193:25 PM MYT
By NURBAITI HAMDAN
KUALA LUMPUR: Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail was removed from his post as the Attorney General after former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak lost trust in him, the High Court heard.
The revelation was made by former chief secretary Tan Sri Ali Hamsa, who said that he had personally handed over the termination letter to Abdul Gani.
He also revealed that former deputy prime minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin subsequently lost his position after making "all the noise" in Cabinet regarding the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) scandal.
The 64-year-old was being questioned by lead prosecutor Datuk Seri Gopal Sri Ram at the PAC trial of Najib and former 1MDB CEO Arul Kanda Kandasamy, where both faced charges relating to the tampering of 1MDB final audit report before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), here on Tuesday (Nov 19).
Sri Ram had asked Ali to explain the circumstance in which Abdul Gani left his office in 2015.
"In my opinion, there was no trust on Abdul Gani actually (by the prime minister)," Ali said.
The witness then rephrased his answer as 'loss of trust' instead of no trust.
Sri Ram probed on the reason for the loss of trust but Ali appeared to hesitate in his answer.
Sri Ram: Don't be quiet. You can speak, Tan Sri. This is the court of law.
Ali: Your Lord, when I handed over the letter to Abdul Gani, telling that he'd be released from the AG's post, I sat with him. He said he expected this to happen.
Ali was asked on what led to the loss of trust, and he said that there were issues with Muhyiddin at that time.
He said Abdul Gani and Muhyiddin had met somewhere at a shopping centre in Kuala Lumpur.
"I can't make any conclusion on that, but maybe that is one thing that became an issue.
"Muhyiddin did ask a lot of questions and raised issues with 1MDB," he said.
After these questions were raised, Ali said Muhyiddin was removed from his post as deputy prime minister.
"When we sat in the Cabinet meetings, we see arguments going on. It was mostly one-sided. Muhyiddin making all the noise in Cabinet, we knew something was coming up," he said.
Muhyiddin was eventually removed from his post after that, Ali added.
Najib is accused of using his position to order amendments to the 1MDB final audit report before it was tabled to the PAC to avoid any action against him.
He allegedly committed the offence in Putrajaya between Feb 22 and Feb 26, 2016.
Arul Kanda was charged with abetting Najib in making amendments to the report to protect the Pekan MP from being subjected to disciplinary, civil or criminal action in connection with 1MDB, at the same place and time.
The hearing before Justice Mohamed Zaini Mazlan continues on Wednesday (Nov 20).
.jpg)
