Former Federal Court judge Gopal Sri Ram today declined to comment on allegations that he attempted to persuade former attorney-general Mohamed Apandi Ali to get then prime minister Najib Razak arrested months before the general election in 2018.
Apandi, a fellow former judge, earlier asserted that Sri Ram had visited him at his home before the general election in 2018 and allegedly urged him to have then-prime minister Najib arrested.
In a Facebook post Apandi said Sri Ram had told him that the arrest order came from then-opposition leader Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
“Tun M sent me to see you,” he claimed Sri Ram said.
“He wants you to arrest Najib at his office, you go tomorrow at 2pm, we have arranged for the police in Putrajaya to do what is necessary on your instructions.”
Sri Ram allegedly said: “Brother, people out there are frustrated and unhappy, the fact that you arrest him, never mind the reason, will make people happy.”
Najib, however, was not arrested.
When contacted, Sri Ram, now a practising lawyer and the ad hoc prosecutor in Najib’s 1MDB-related trials, said he had no comment on the claim.
Apandi was dismissed from office after the Pakatan Harapan coalition, led by Mahathir, took federal power in the May 9, 2018 polls.
In his Facebook post, he also said he had evidence of his claim in the form of eyewitnesses and a CCTV recording.
He said Sri Ram had come to his house with a young Chinese lawyer, purportedly to discuss his rejection of a representation in a criminal case.
“Gopal Sri Ram can deny this but I would like to caution that at that material time I was the AG and my house was fitted with CCTV, (one specifically for the hall) and not to mention my bodyguards and the police personnel who were manning the guardhouse in front of my house – CCTV (cameras) will not lie and I, too, have witnesses.”
Apandi later told The Malaysian Insight that he wrote the explosive post as he wanted to “check Sri Ram who is behaving like he is the attorney-general”.
He said the post was indeed a prelude to a “voluminous” memoir, which he hopes to publish by year-end.
“It will cover various chapters of my life as a judge, a DPP (deputy public prosecutor) and as A-G.”
Apandi, 70, promised the memoir will contain further “revelations”.
He was appointed attorney-general in July 2015 after the termination of Abdul Gani Patail’s appointment.
He has been running a private firm after the Barisan Nasional government lost the 2018 general election.
In March, Apandi testified at the SRC International trial, where he defended his decision not to pursue charges against Najib in early 2016 over the alleged RM2.6 billion Saudi donations as well as the alleged misappropriation of RM42 million of SRC International funds.
Apandi further denied he was involved in a cover-up to protect Najib, maintaining a lack of evidence the former prime minister had committed any wrongdoing.
Sri Ram is currently the lead prosecutor in Najib’s 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) trial.
He is also leading the prosecution in the joint trial of Najib and former 1MDB chief executive officer Arul Kanda Kandasamy on the tampering of 1MDB audit report, Rosmah Mansor’s graft trial, and the money-laundering trial of Najib’s lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah.