ni terbaru dari Tommy Thomas sebagai menjawab statement AG Idrus Harun
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“Ini adalah perjanjian manis untuk Riza tetapi mengerikan bagi Malaysia,”
MALAYSIA TETAP AKAN DAPAT SEMULA WANG DARI DOJ WALAU APAPUN BERLAKU - TOMMY THOMAS
Bekas AG Tan Sri Tommy Thomas hari ini menyatakan bahawa dia tidak akan pernah bersetuju dengan perjanjian yang mengakibatkan Riza Shahriz Abdul Aziz dibebaskan secara bersyarat dari tuduhan pengubahan wang haram lebih daripada AS $248 juta (RM1.08 bilion dengan kadar pertukaran hari ini) dana yang berkaitan dengan skandal 1MDB, dan menyebutnya sebagai "perjanjian kasih sayang" yang memihak kepada anak tiri Datuk Seri Najib Razak, Riza Aziz.
Thomas, yang merupakan Peguam Negara dari Jun 2018 hingga akhir Februari 2020, mengatakan bahawa dia harus menyatakan untuk kali kedua mengenai isu ini setelah namanya disebut beberapa kali oleh penggantinya Peguam Negara Tan Sri Idrus Harun dalam kenyataan media semalam.
Antara lain, Idrus semalam mendakwa bahawa dia telah diberitahu oleh pendakwa utama dalam kes Riza Aziz Datuk Seri Gopal Sri Ram, ketika berunding dengan ketua Suruhanjaya Pencegahan Rasuah Malaysia (SPRM) Latheefa Koya, telah mencadangkan agar SPRM menerima representasi peguam Riza.
Tetapi Thomas menafikan dakwaan itu, dengan mengatakan bahawa dia tidak akan pernah menyokong perjanjian itu.
"Oleh kerana Tan Sri Idrus dengan bersungguh-sungguh menyatakan bahawa saya telah bersetuju secara prinsip, izinkan saya menyatakan secara terbuka bahawa saya tidak akan pernah mengesahkan perjanjian ini.”
Ketika mengulas kesepakatan antara pihak pendakwaan dan Riza yang mengakibatkan pembebasan bersyarat minggu lalu, Thomas mengatakan bahawa Malaysia akan tetap menerima wang atau aset dari Jabatan Kehakiman (DOJ) AS, walau apapun yang berlaku.
“Riza tidak menawarkan untuk membayar wang atau wang baru dari sumber apa pun selain aset yang dirampas oleh DOJ. Bagaimanapun, AS $108 juta akan tetap dikembalikan oleh DOJ ke Malaysia. Oleh itu, Riza tidak perlu mendapat kredit kerana mengembalikan wang yang bukan miliknya. Maka, ini adalah perjanjian manis untuk Riza tetapi mengerikan bagi Malaysia,” katanya lagi.
Beliau turut mempersoalkan mengapa pembebasan Riza dibuat dengan kadar segera sedangkan wang yang didakwa akan dipulangkan masih belum lagi dipulangkan.
Beliau berkata sewajarnya Riza dibebaskan setelah kerajaan memperolehi semua wang terbabit.
"Oleh itu, seseorang perlu mempersoalkan mengapa Riza diberikan DNAA sebelum waktu yang sepatutnya," katanya.
Bekas AG Tan Sri Tommy Thomas hari ini menyatakan bahawa dia tidak akan pernah bersetuju dengan perjanjian yang mengakibatkan Riza Shahriz A...
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ni dalam bahasa Inggerisnya
Tommy Thomas says would never have approved ‘sweetheart deal’ for Najib's stepson Riza Aziz
Monday, 18 May 2020 09:58 AM MYT
View attachment 237794
KUALA LUMPUR, May 18 — Tan Sri Tommy Thomas today declared that he would never have approved the agreement that resulted in Riza Shahriz Abdul Aziz’s conditional discharge from money-laundering charges over US$248 million (RM1.08 billion by today’s exchange rate) of funds linked to the 1MDB scandal, calling it a “sweetheart deal” favouring Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s stepson Riza Aziz and also questioning the timing of his release from the charges.
Thomas, who was the attorney general from June 2018 to late February 2020, said he has had to put the record straight for a second time on this issue after his name was mentioned several times by his successor Attorney General Tan Sri Idrus Harun in a press statement yesterday.
Among other things, Idrus yesterday claimed that he had been advised that the lead prosecutor in Riza Aziz’s case Datuk Seri Gopal Sri Ram, in consultation with then Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) chief Latheefa Koya, had suggested for MACC to accept Riza’s lawyers’ proposals for the deal, with Idrus also
claiming that he had been advised Thomas had “agreed to the suggestion in principle“.
But Thomas rejected the claim, saying he would have never backed the deal.
“Since Tan Sri Idrus is at pains to emphasise the weight he gave to my so called ‘agreement in principle’ (which itself is a fiction), let me state publicly that I would have never sanctioned this deal.
“I would have lost all credibility in the eyes of the people of Malaysia whom I endeavoured to serve as public prosecutor to the best of my ability, honestly and professionally if I had approved it. I would have betrayed the trust the Prime Minister and the PH government had reposed in me,” he said in a statement today.
When commenting on the deal struck between the prosecution and Riza that resulted in the latter’s conditional discharge last week, Thomas said Malaysia would have had received the money or assets anyway from the US’ Department of Justice (DOJ).
“Riza is not offering to pay any new money or monies from any source other than DOJ seized assets. The US$108 million, would, in any event, be returned by DOJ to Malaysia. Thus, Riza is unnecessarily getting credit for returning monies that are not his. Hence, it is a sweetheart deal for Riza but terrible for Malaysia,” he said.
Thomas also questioned why the prosecution had sought for a
discharge not amounting to acquittal (DNAA) of Riza even before the fulfilling of the terms of the deal.
“Finally, even the timing of Riza’s DNAA is bizarre. In both civil and criminal proceedings which proceed to trial, a plaintiff or the prosecution loses substantial leverage over the adverse party if it withdraws court proceeding before the terms of settlement are completely performed. This is elementary.
“Hence, one needs to question why Riza has been given a DNAA so prematurely,” he said.
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