Apandi: I classified 1MDB probe as 'no further action' because witnesses had absconded

KUALA LUMPUR (April 7): Former attorney general Tan Sri Mohamed Apandi Ali (pictured) testified yesterday that he classified the investigation into 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) as NFA (no further action) in 2016 because several key witnesses, including fugitive financier Jho Low, had absconded.

Apandi, who was the attorney general from July 2015 to June 2018, said the Public Accounts Committee's (PAC) report on 1MDB in 2015 suggested that the fund's former chief executive officer (CEO) Datuk Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi should take responsibility for its "blunders".

However, Apandi said investigators could not find Shahrol, former SRC International CEO Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil, 1MDB legal counsel Jasmine Loo and Jho Low to complete their investigation.

"In 1MDB there was delay in investigation because quite a number of witnesses had fled, gone missing and difficult to trace. Nik Faisal absconded, 1MDB CEO Shahrol also absconded, Jasmine Loo also absconded, and of course the elusive Jho Low.

"This took time, and I had been pushing them (investigators) to complete investigation," Apandi said when testifying in his defamation suit at the High Court against DAP stalwart Lim Kit Siang.

The suit was over an article written by Lim, calling on Apandi to explain why he "aided and abetted in the 1MDB scandal". The article entitled "Dangerous fallacy to think Malaysia's on the road to integrity" was published on May 6, 2019.

Explaining further his NFA decision with regard to the 1MDB investigation, Apandi said the probe was not complete and he was not convinced that he could bring up charges against anyone.

"Before you charge anyone, investigation has to be complete. As attorney general, I inherited the practice when I was a (deputy public prosecutor) that in the Attorney General's Department, you must have 95% evidence to secure conviction. As to 1MDB, it was not complete. The reason was because witnesses had absconded," he said.

The PAC had emphasised that Shahrol was responsible for all the discrepancies in 1MDB, but Apandi claimed the former CEO had absconded at the "material time".

(Shahril is currently a witness in the 1MDB-Tanore case against former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, but the issue of him absconding has not been raised by lawyers.)

Apandi also said he could not complete the investigation because he was removed as the attorney general "unlawfully" on June 4, 2018 by then prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

On Oct 13 last year, Apandi filed a suit against Dr Mahathir and the government, seeking a declaration that his dismissal was unlawful.

Apandi, who was a Federal Court judge before being appointed attorney general, is also seeking a declaration that Dr Mahathir had committed misfeasance and misconduct in public office, and had caused the breach of contract between him and the government.

However, Dr Mahathir and the government in their statement of defence, filed on Nov 12 last year, stated there was no abuse of power by the former premier in the termination of Apandi's service as attorney general and of his contract as a legal officer.

Hearing of Apandi's defamation suit against Lim continues today before Justice Datuk Azimah Omar.

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