LIKE most concerned Malaysians who are currently closely following the news, I am deeply disappointed with the Attorney General (AG) Tan Sri Idrus Harun’s response to the criminal convictions of a former Goldman Sachs banker involved in the 1Malaysia Development Board (1MDB) scandal.
After Roger Ng Chong Hwa was convicted on Friday by a US jury on three counts of foreign bribery in relation to 1MDB, the AG said that Malaysia should wait for Ng to exhaust his right to appeal in the US before Malaysia resumes legal proceedings against the ex-banker.
In my view, Idrus needs not wait for Ng to exhaust his appeal process in the US. Our authorities should already be continuing with legal proceedings against the ex-banker. In 2019, before Ng’s trial in the US, he was already detained in Malaysia for criminal investigations and awaiting trial.
But when an order for extradition to the US arrived, Ng chose to be transferred to the US for trial and his Malaysian trial was put on hold. His trial in Malaysia cannot and should not be postponed any further.
We have our own legal system. By allowing Ng to exhaust his legal avenues to appeal in the US, I wonder if Idrus is perhaps making the degrading suggestion that Malaysian law is subservient to American law. May I remind the AG that Malaysia is not America’s 51st state!
Idrus should immediately seek for Ng’s return, and orders should also be given to charge Ng’s fellow Malaysian accomplices who were implicated during his court trial in the US.
As a matter of fact, the AG’s office should already have initiated and completed the investigations on these individuals by now. – April 10, 2022.
Lim Lip Eng is the MP for Kepong
The views expressed are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Focus Malaysia.
