PETALING JAYA: Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad has defended his decision to terminate Apandi Ali’s services as attorney-general in 2018, after the Federal Court threw out Apandi’s bid to appeal the dismissal of his RM10 million defamation suit against DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang.
In a post on X, Mahathir said the apex court’s judgment, as well as what had been said by the judges in the course of the case’s journey through three separate courts, reinforced his belief that firing Apandi as AG was the right decision.
“All seven judges agreed that Apandi’s main failure was in carrying out his duties as AG.
“(After his termination) Apandi sued the government, naming me as a defendant for supposedly terminating his services illegally and accusing me of looking poorly upon him.
“That is why I did not agree with the government’s decision in 2022 to agree to settle Apandi’s suit over his termination, which I was told involved a considerable amount in damages,” he said.
In the dismissal of Apandi’s appeal on Tuesday, Chief Justice Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat said the five leave questions posed by Apandi were not novel and did not warrant further review by the Federal Court.
The bench also awarded Lim RM30,000 in costs.
Mahathir pointed to the Court of Appeal judgment last year, which said that despite Apandi’s authority to direct investigations and prosecute those responsible without fear of favour, he sought to impede and obstruct the investigations through various efforts in office to cover up the 1MDB scandal.
“The judge said that when Apandi decided to suddenly halt the investigation (into the 1MDB scandal), it reinforced public perception that he was covering it up.
“The judge also said Apandi had failed to show even the slightest evidence to support his claim that he did not ‘aid and abet’ Najib Razak in the scandal.
“This means the government’s decision in 2018, when I was prime minister, to terminate Apandi’s services as attorney-general was correct,” he said.
