KUALA LUMPUR: Former Attorney General Tan Sri Tommy Thomas may now have to face contempt proceedings over the contents of his controversial book "My Story – Justice in the Wilderness", especially over parts which touched on the ongoing murder trial of former Cradle Fund chief executive officer Nazrin Hassan's wife, Samirah Muzaffar.
Samirah's lawyer, Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, today informed Shah Alam High Court Judge Datuk Ab Karim Ab Rahman that the defence wants to raise an issue of contempt of court by publication of subjudice statements in Thomas' book.
At the onset of the resumption of proceedings today, Shafee said the contentious remarks made by Thomas were in pages 409 and 410 of the book.
The alleged contentious remarks, he argued, were as follows:
"The version of the widow and her two sons, that the upstairs rooms of their home caught fire, killing the former husband, and father of the boys, did not seem credible. What was incredible was their explanation as to the cause of the fire. According to them, his mobile phone had burst into flame. Their maid quickly left their home, and returned to Indonesia before police could take her statement. Further suspicion."
Shafee said as the statement touches on the merits of the ongoing trial, the defence wants the court to cite Thomas for contempt.
The court then suggested for the prosecution to initiate contempt proceedings.
On March 12, 2019, Samirah, who is a former senior executive at the Intellectual Property Corporation of Malaysia, two teenagers aged 17 and 14, and an Indonesian who is still at large, Eka Wahyu Lestari, were charged with killing Nazrin.
The 45-year-old and the two teenagers were accused of committing the offence at a house in Mutiara Damansara between 11.30pm on June 13, 2018, and 4am on June 14, 2018.
Thomas has found himself in the line of fire following the release of his book, which is filled with bombshell revelations of behind-the-scenes manoeuvrings in the Pakatan Harapan government led by Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, and also decisions taken by him during his tenure as Attorney General.
A total of seven reports have been lodged against Thomas so far, with Deputy Inspector-General of Police Datuk Seri Acryl Sani Abdullah Sani confirming that police are in the midst of completing the investigation paper (IP) over every report.
He said police would record the statements from everyone involved before submitting the IP to the deputy public prosecutor for review and further action.
It was reported that among those who have lodged the reports are Thomas' predecessor, Tan Sri Mohamed Apandi Ali – who claimed that Thomas had violated the Official Secrets Acts (OSA) through the publication of his memoir.
Others who lodged reports include Umno Youth and former solicitor general III Datuk Mohamad Hanafiah Zakaria, who claimed that an excerpt from Thomas' book had tarnished his image as a deputy public prosecutor, a post he held for 33 years.