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PETALING JAYA: A retired senior legal officer filed a police report against former Attorney General Tommy Thomas for allegedly tarnishing his reputation by claiming he is unable to prosecute Najib Razak for corruption in the SRC International case.
Mohamad Hanafiah Zakaria, who retired as a senior investigative officer at the Institute for Judicial and Legal Training (ILKAP) in August, urged police to investigate Thomas for criminal defamation.
In his report filed at the Cyberjaya Police Station last night, Hanafiah said that the police should investigate Thomas under Section 499 of the Penal Code for also tarnishing the reputation of other AGC officers and the image of the cameras.
He said he was doing the report after Thomas referred to him in his memoirs. “My Story: Justice in the Desert,” which was made available to the public on Monday.
Hanafiah said he was in the Judicial and Legal Service for 33 years and held numerous positions and brought public interest cases to Federal Court.
“Thomas’s claim that I am incapable of prosecuting high-profile cases like SRC is aimed at taking down my reputation,” he said in his report.
Hanafiah initially led the prosecution team when Najib was accused of corruption in connection with SRC funds, but Thomas later agreed to senior attorneys Sulaiman Abdullah and V Sithambaram.
In July 2019, Hanafiah was transferred to ILKAP in Bangi and remained there until his retirement.
Hanafiah was named Attorney General III following the restructuring of the Attorney General’s Office in 2018 after Thomas was appointed Attorney General in June of that year.
He reported directly to Thomas and was responsible for the civil division litigation division, the prosecution division and the appeals and trials division.
All the offices of the state attorney general’s office reported him.
He was in the news in 2018 when he took responsibility for dropping corruption charges against former Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng and a businesswoman.
On July 28 last year, the High Court found Najib guilty of seven counts of corruption in the SRC trial. The former prime minister was sentenced to 12 years in prison and fined 210 million ringgit for abuse of power, criminal breach of trust and money laundering.
Your appeal is now before the Court of Appeal.
Yesterday, Najib had also sent a demand letter to Thomas for allegedly defaming him in his memoirs in connection with the murder of the Mongolian citizen Altantuya Shaariibuu in 2006.
Najib’s lawyer, Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, said his client was seeking an apology and RM10 million in compensation.
The notice also called for an immediate and unequivocal public retraction of the book’s statement and a commitment not to repeat the allegations and comments.
Najib has given Thomas until Friday to respond, otherwise he will start legal proceedings early next week.
