High Court judge concluded that Apandi was someone who did not speak the truth and failed to perform his duties as the A-G.
Dr Mahathir Mohamad has questioned why the authorities are probing former attorney-general (AG) Tommy Thomas over his book but not his predecessor Apandi Ali over alleged offences when he was AG.
He said Apandi had cleared former prime minister Najib Razak of any wrongdoing in the 1MDB scandal, but the Pekan MP had been thrown in jail after nine judges found him guilty of corruption in the SRC International case.
In a blog post, the former prime minister claimed this “clearly showed” Apandi’s involvement in allegedly covering up the 1MDB scandal.
“I don’t have anything against the investigation into Thomas’ book. If (the authorities) feel there’s a basis to charge him or anyone else for that matter, including me, the law allows for action to be taken,” Mahathir said.
“However, it is very peculiar that up till now no investigation or action has been taken against Apandi.”
Dr Mahathir said High Court judge Datuk Azimah Omar, in her 100-page written judgment, on May 23 this year, had rejected Apandi’s defamation suit against DAP stalwart Lim Kit Siang.
“Azimah had concluded that Apandi, among others, was someone who did not speak the truth, failed to perform his duties as the A-G and there was basis for this to be investigated under suspicion of collaborating and protecting the crimes of 1MDB,” he said.
Dr Mahathir said Azimah had also expressed “the disdain of the court to the sordid extent of Apandi’s self-contradictory testimony, evasiveness and outright untruth”.
“Following Azimah’s judgment, many police reports were lodged against Apandi but until now, no action has been taken.
“Instead, the government compensated Apandi millions of ringgit because the previous government had terminated his services due to failure to discharge his duties,” he said.
Dr Mahathir claimed the allegations against Thomas, which also implicated him, were attempts to prevent him from speaking out on government misconduct.
Nonetheless, he said, he would never keep silent as long as he lived.