The Attorney General’s Chambers (AGC) will continue to represent Tan Sri Tommy Thomas in the committal proceeding that was filed by the father of firefighter Muhammad Adib Mohd Kassim against the former attorney general.
Lawyer Mohamed Haniff Khatri Abdulla, representing Mohd Kassim Abdul Hamid, said the stand was made by the AGC in response to a representation sent by his client.
Kassim had sent a representation to get the AGC’s latest stance on the matter whether it was distancing itself or still standing firmly behind Thomas’ actions as the former A-G, particularly regarding media statements that had been the subject of court contempt proceedings, following the change in the A-G’s post.
Besides the AGC, Thomas is also represented by lawyer Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan in an appeal filed by Kassim last February 11 against a High Court decision in allowing Thomas’ appeal to set aside the committal proceeding he filed against the then A-G.
Mohamed Haniff said the Court of Appeal had set January 5 next year to hear the appeal.
He said the AGC also submitted an application to file an appeal outside the time limit on the jurisdiction of the Coroner Court to hear and decide on committal proceedings.
“The court set December 17 to hear the application by the AGC,” he said through Whatsapp.
Kassim filed the appeal last February 11 against a High Court decision in allowing Thomas’ appeal to set aside the committal proceeding he filed against the then A-G.
Judge Datuk Meor Hashimi Abdul Hamid, in his judgment, said the Coroner’s Court had erred in allowing the application by Kassim to initiate committal proceeding against the A-G, adding that Kassim, in his application, failed to draw the coroner’s attention to a media statement issued by the attorney-general on May 28, 2019, as a whole.
Kassim filed the ex-parte application for a committal order against the A-G on July 16 last year for allegedly insulting the court through the filing of an affidavit by the AG’s Chambers on April 3 on the firefighter’s death.
Adib was seriously injured in a riot at the Sri Maha Mariamman Temple, Subang Jaya, last year. He died on December 17, after 21 days at the National Heart Institute.
On September 27 last year the Coroner’s Court established that Adib died after he was assaulted by two or three unidentified people during the riot.