PUTRAJAYA: The Federal court here today dismissed three appeals for leave to challenge Attorney-General (AG) Tan Sri Mohamed Apandi Ali’s decision over the closure of an investigation related to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s alleged wrongdoing in the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) issue.
A three-man bench, led by Chief Justice Tan Sri Md Raus Sharif, made the unanimous decision after hearing submissions from both the defendants and the prosecution team.
The three appellants – former Batu Kawan Umno deputy chief Datuk Seri Khairuddin Abu Hassan, the Malaysian Bar, and former cabinet minister Datuk Zaid Ibrahim - were seeking leave to challenge the AG’s decision on Jan 26, last year, not to prosecute Najib over the issue of a RM2.6 billion donation into the latter’s personal bank account, among others.
Also presiding were Chief Judge of Malaya Tan Sri Ahmad Maarop and Federal Court Judge Tan Sri Azahar Mohamed.
Senior federal counsel Datuk Amarjeet Singh, who represented Apandi, said the AG’s decision could not be questioned in court under Article 145(3) of the Federal Constitution, which conferred discretionary powers to the AG on whether to institute, conduct or discontinue criminal proceedings.
The trio had also lost their bid for leave to initiate a judicial review against Apandi's decision at the Court of Appeal on Apr 4 this year.
Earlier, Md Raus also dismissed the trio’s application to disqualify himself from the hearing as there was no merit to the case.
He said any decision would be made with two other judges (Ahmad and Azahar) based on facts and law.
Lawyer Tommy Thomas acted for the Malaysian Bar, while retired Federal Court judge Datuk Seri Gopal Sri Ram acted as Zaid's counsel. Lawyer Mohamed Haniff Khatri Abdulla represented Khairuddin.
On 26 Jan, 2016, Apandi decided that no criminal offence was committed by the Prime Minister with respect to three investigation papers submitted by the MACC.