By Emmanuel Samarathisa
WHEN the Prime Minister’s Office announced last Friday (March 6) Tan Sri Idrus Harun as the new attorney-general (AG), many lauded the appointment.
PAS secretary-general Takiyuddin Hassan said his party welcomed Idrus as the new AG while DAP’s Bukit Gelugor MP Ramkarpal Singh expressed confidence that Idrus would, as a former Federal Court judge, “observe the rule of law.”
Former de facto deputy law minister Hanipa Maidin congratulated Idrus, telling Malaysiakini that “he was a fair and intelligent judge.”
Activists heaped praises for Idrus. Datuk Seri Ambiga Sreenevasan said Idrus was a seasoned legal eagle and she was “confident that he is fully capable for meeting this challenge.” Even Malaysian Bar president Datuk Abdul Fareed Abdul Gafoor shored up support that Idrus would “efficiently and effectively” uphold the rule of law without fear or favour.
These positive gestures act as a testimony to Idrus’ character. And he seems to be a typical bureaucrat with an ample amount of experience in the legal arena, having done time both in the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) as a solicitor-general as well as a Federal Court judge.
He is also the elder brother of Election Commission chief Azhar Azizan Harun.
But during his time as solicitor-general, he was on the board of civil servants’ pension fund Kumpulan Wang Persaraan Diperbadankan (KWAP), as early as 2007 to 2015.
That means he was on the board when KWAP provided the RM4 bil loan in 2011 to SRC International Sdn Bhd, the company linked to 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) and owned by MoF Inc.
KWAP’s investment panel only agreed to extend a RM1 bil loan as it did not want so much money to be concentrated or risked in a single company.
Eventually, the loan became RM2 bil, and later in 2012, another RM2 bil loan was approved despite the proposals not meeting KWAP’s requirements.
In March 2015, KWAP had also invested a total of RM1.4 bil in 1MDB and its subsidiaries.
KWAP’s loan to SRC is a matter of public interest as former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak is facing six charges of money laundering and criminal breach of trust in the transfer of RM42 mil from SRC to his personal account.
He is also accused of abusing his power as prime minister by giving government guarantees (GGs) on SRC’s RM4 bil loan from KWAP.
On Dec 11 last year, it was revealed in court that the first guarantee was granted before SRC had formally appointed its directors on Aug 17, 2011, exactly six days before the five-member board of directors met for the first time on Aug 23.
But on Feb 19 this year, former Treasury secretary-general Tan Sri Mohd Irwan Serigar Abdullah was called to the stand as the third defence witness where he testified that a GG could not be “simply” granted just because national interest is involved.
Irwan explained that any application required the approval of the Cabinet, before the finance minister is able to issue a GG order to the relevant authority.
“For example, when [national public transport company Prasarana Malaysia Bhd] wanted to go to the market to raise funds for a project, we looked at the railway project and at whether it can service the interest and loan and so on,” Irwan said.
He added that the process of getting a GG, from the application to the granting, could take one to three months, depending on the urgency of the loan, and that he did not know of any application that was approved in less than a month.
On average, Irwan said, the process takes about a month. That wasn’t the case with SRC’s RM4 bil loan from KWAP which were given GGs in a matter of days.
Checks with KWAP’s 2011 and 2012 annual reports show that besides being a director on the board by virtue of holding the solicitor-general’s post, Idrus was also on the audit and remuneration committee as well as the tender board.
According to both annual reports, Idrus had also been a good steward of his roles, having nearly perfect attendance for both committees and the board.
Question is, did Idrus know about the GGs? According to KWAP’s annual reports, the GGs were never discussed, especially in the audit committee which was, by KWAP’s own definition, tasked, among others, “to ensure establishment and enforcement of internal controls and systems at KWAP.”
That the GGs could be expedited quickly cast doubt on such internal controls and systems. Yet, according to KWAP’s annual reports, they weren’t part of the major issues or proposals deliberated and approved by the audit committee during both years when SRC dished out the loans to 1MDB.
Some in the legal fraternity opine that Idrus could recuse himself from the ongoing SRC trial to parry doubt over conflicts of interest. That, they contend, has to be made public from Idrus himself. Previously, Idrus’ predecessor Tan Sri Tommy Thomas handled the SRC trial.
As more clarity is needed on the part of Idrus, especially his knowledge of the matter, the AG has so far renewed the mandate for lawyer Datuk Seri Gopal Sri Ram to continue as an ad hoc prosecutor in four cases related to the 1MDB scandal.
The cases are: Najib’s main 1MDB corruption trial, Najib and former 1MDB chief executive Arul Kanda Kandasamy’s trial for allegedly tampering with a federal audit report, and Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor’s corruption trial.
Sri Ram will also lead the prosecution against Najib’s lawyer, Tan Sri Muhammad Shafie Abdullah, in a money-laundering trial that has yet to begin.
That is a good move by Idrus. Transparency International Malaysia president Datuk Seri Akhbar Satar said that for appointments such as the AG, three criteria need to be satisfied: integrity, merit and bravery. – March 10, 2020
