"Justice delayed is justice denied" - William E Gladstone

QUESTION TIME | Who does the attorney-general report to? If we take the commonsense approach that any one ultimately reports to the person who appointed him and has the power to remove him, it would be the prime minister, just as a minister also reports to the PM.

But the Federal Constitution specifies the role, responsibility and independence of the AG. The PM goes against the rule of law if he instructs the AG to do anything which goes contrary to the independence of the AG in terms of prosecuting of cases because that would be a case of interference in the judicial process.

But surely that is not the situation when the PM or anyone authorised by the PM makes administrative instructions to the AG, one of which is to expedite cases of enormous public interest such as former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak’s.

Najib faces 42 charges involving a multitude of offences (see chart) for, amongst others, criminal breach of trust, abuse of power, money laundering and receiving gratification. The amount of money runs into the billions of ringgit of borrowed money which were allegedly stolen from government strategic development company 1MDB, then wholly owned by the Minister of Finance Inc. Najib was also finance minister at that time.

These, and associated cases, are very important to the country and the people who have been charged, all of whom have so far pleaded not guilty. If these parties were really not guilty as they have pleaded, then they will have absolutely no objection to have their cases expedited so that they can clear their names as quickly as possible.

If they put blocks in the way of the cases proceeding and delay them at every turn, then they would clearly be delaying the inevitable justice that will be meted out to them. That delay will be a denial of justice - the longer that is delayed, the greater the injustice. Those who have done wrong must face justice as soon as possible.

Because of the severity of the charges and the huge impact they have on the country, national interests, the Malaysian public, and even those who have been charged, there is nothing wrong with the cases being expedited and given preference over others so that the national calamity that is 1MDB and kleptocracy can be put behind us and those who are responsible are quickly brought to book.

It is clear that there is no compromise of justice here, and the issue is purely an administrative one to expedite hearings which, at the end of the day, will just ensure that justice will be brought to everyone as soon as practicable.

For this purpose, it is also necessary that all appeals to higher courts for decisions made by the lower courts be expedited too for the same reason that these cases are too important for the nation and Malaysian people for them to be inordinately stretched out through administrative delays and bottlenecks.

Quick disposal

These are extraordinary cases and their quick disposal are necessary to bring people to book or to exonerate them if that is the case so that the recovery process from the well-documented and unprecedented kleptocracy that this country has gone through has proper closure and we can move forward from there.

As far as administrative matters are concerned to improve the efficiency of the AG’s Chambers and to reduce the turnaround time for trials, there should be no issue.

As solicitor-general III Mohamad Hanafiah Zakaria, defending his letter conveying the government's directive for there to be no delays in the prosecution of the SRC International Sdn Bhd, 1MDB and other graft cases, said:

"I wish to explain here that the Attorney-General's Chambers is part of the machinery of the federal government and being part of it, we receive direction and instruction from the government.

"The AGC will always adhere to the government’s directive and instruction so long as they are lawful and is not against the Federal Constitution or any written law.”

Thus it is too much for DAP's Bukit Gelugor MP Ramkarpal Singh, whose comments are usually thoughtful and proper, to say that Hanafiah should be removed if he does not understand that the AG’s Chambers should be independent and should not take instructions from the government.

Surely that does not cover administrative matters such as expediting cases and not allowing undue delays for those which involve national interests of epic proportions.

In this case, British statesman and former prime minister William E Gladstone’s aphorism, “Justice delayed is justice denied”, is particularly apt.

P GUNASEGARAN says efficiency at the AG’s Chambers enhances justice - always. E-mail: [email protected]

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