Former A-G Gani retires, minus ceremonial clock out

Former attorney-general Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail leaving a wake for murdered deputy public prosecutor Anthony Kevin Morais last month. Gani retires today from government service but under a cloud, especially since he was removed abruptly from office on July 27. – The Malaysian Insider file pic, October 5, 2015. 

Former attorney-general Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail retired today from the judicial and legal service after a chequered career spanning 35 years.

Gani turns 60 tomorrow, the mandatory retirement age for civil servants.

Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) public relations officer Mohamad Amsyari Mohamad Suhaimi said Gani did not do the symbolic clock out as top civil servants normally do upon retirement.

“He has been on leave since July 27 prior to retirement,” Amsyari told The Malaysian Insider.

Gani, who had served as A-G for 13 years from 2003, was removed abruptly from office on July 27 when he was part of the multi-agency special task force investigating 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) and the US$700 million (RM2.6 billion) channelled into the private accounts of Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

Former Special Branch deputy director Datuk Abdul Hamid Bador yesterday said Gani should come out and clarify the issues surrounding 1MDB, as the ex-attorney general appeared to have gone “silent” after his removal from office.

Hamid, who said he sympathised with Gani’s fate, wondered if the former chief legal adviser to the government had some scandals that could be used to discredit him.

Gani did not respond to The Malaysian Insider’s attempts to contact him by phone and text message.

Lawyer N. Athimulan, who has known Gani for 20 years, said the job as A-G’s was a tedious one.

“But he was candid and performed his task well, especially the job of public prosecutor,” said the lawyer who was in the opposition when Gani led the prosecution in the case involving 30 individuals facing charges of waging war against the Yang di-Pertuan Agong in 2000.

The first person from a local university to hold the prestigious position, Gani suffers from a kidney ailment and undergoes dialysis three times a week.

Gani’s career began on April 15, 1980 with his appointment as a deputy public prosecutor in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, his home state.

In 1985, he was appointed as the senior federal counsel for Sabah and went on to become head of the prosecution in the AGC in 1994.

He was also head of the Advisory and International Division and the Commissioner of Law Revision before a second stint as head of the prosecution in 2000 until his appointment as A-G.

Among the highlights in his career as prosecutor was securing the conviction for corruption against former Sabah chief minister Tan Sri Joseph Pairin Kitingan in 1993.

He also prosecuted former Selangor menteri besar Dr Mohamad Khir Toyo for corruption where the Federal Court last week affirmed the conviction.

He was also in the prosecution of former opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim for sodomy in 2008 and two former police commandos for the murder of Mongolian Altantuya Shaariibuu in 2006.

The Federal Court early this year confirmed the convictions of Anwar and the policemen, albeit many controversies also led to questions about Gani’s impartiality.

As lead prosecutor in the first Anwar sodomy case in 1998, Gani was implicated for fabricating evidence in the “black-eye incident” after his arrest on September 21.

Anwar was acquitted of the sexual misconduct charge by the Federal Court in 2004.

Gani received brickbats in late 2013 when former transport minister Tun Dr Ling Liong Sik was acquitted of cheating the Cabinet for failure to disclose transactions related to the land purchase for Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) project.

He was also criticised for dropping charges last year against another transport minister, Tan Sri Chan Kong Choy, for three counts of cheating former prime minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi in relation to the PKFZ development works.

Other closely followed cases that the prosecution, under Gani, lost included the late tycoon Tan Sri Eric Chia’s acquittal for misappropriating RM76.4 million and the acquittal of former land and cooperative development minister Tan Sri Kasitah Gaddam for corruption and cheating involving shares belonging to the Sabah Land Development Board.

- TMI