AG may be BN's liability, says ex-MACC man

KUALA LUMPUR - Attorney-General Abdul Gani Patail is the biggest stumbling block to Barisan Nasional with regard to its general election goal and he must be axed, said Social Care Foundation chairman Robert Phang today.

The former MACC advisory panelist described Gani as “perverse” and “arrogant” and listed several instances where the latter “wasted public funds pursuing useless cases and closing an eye to cases that are really of public importance”.

“That is how shameless and perverse Gani is.

“I say to [Prime Minister] Najib [Tun Razak], remove Gani. Remove him, otherwise the government will continue to be ridiculed, derided and scorned,” he told a press conference here.

Phang said Gani was now the “biggest liability” to BN and the government and he should not remain mum on the allegations against him circulating in the public domain.

“If you are sincere in supporting the government, then don’t create problems for the government… his bad advices to the government have resulted in the government being scorned and Najib is made to look very bad…” he said.

Asked if Phang meant that it was not the duty of the attorney-general to aide BN’s political agenda, he replied: “Yes, in fact, he should not help but he also shouldn’t be a stumbling block either.”

He said that Gani failed in several instances: how he handled cases and matters of public importance; how he advised the government on the law; and alleged cases of abuse and selective prosecution by his chambers.

Among the controversial cases he cited that showed theAG’s “incompetence” were the charging of the Borders bookstore manager over the sale of Irshad Manji’s book on Islam; the High Court’s ruling that Bersih was now declared not illegal; Gani’s alleged corruption case and how Phang himself was “framed” and how lawyer Rosli Dahlan was allegedly made a scapegoat in the Ramli Yusof cases.

Phang (right) also said that an annonymous person had sent him a copy of a book entitled “Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail Pemalsu, Penipu, Penjenayah?” authored by Zainal Abidin Ahmad.

“The book details the [alleged] abuses, corruption and criminal acts of Gani. I challenge Gani to investigate, arrest and charge the author if the contents are untrue and sue him for defamation,” he added.

Phang said he would lodge a police report and hand over the book for them to investigate the claims.

He also said that in a discussion with MACC panelists last year, Gani had belittled policemen and MACC officers.

“I detest the arrogant attitude of Gani when he openly belittled the top leadership of the police and MACC by blaming them for the acquittals in court.

“The responsibility lies with the AG because he has always professed that he will not bring cases to court without minimum of 90% evidence,” he said.