Attorney General’s Chambers’ questionable exercise of discretion and conduct calls for bold reforms

Project Stability and Accountability for Malaysia (Projek Sama) calls upon the “Madani” (trustworthy) federal government to introduce bold reforms to both public prosecution and political finance beyond the separation of the public prosecutor from the attorney general that the government has committed to. 

This call is made in conjunction with the release of a detailed scrutiny of prosecutorial conduct in cases of corruption, criminal breach of trust and money laundering involving current or former elected representatives that were commenced or continued after regime change.

Commissioned by Projek Sama, the report by legal researcher Farah Izzah Haron, assisted by Projek Sama convener Ngeow Chow Ying and member Wo Chang Xi aims to answer a lingering question in the minds of many: do politicians still get away with corruption after the 2018 democratic transition, as if Malaysia is a dua-darjat (two-tiered) society with different treatments for sharks (ikan yu) and anchovies (ikan bilis)?

This study focuses only on the discretion and conduct of the Attorney General’s Chambers resulting in discharges amounting to acquittal and discharges not amounting to acquittal, and not examining judicial determinations.

It takes the position that a discharge amounting to acquittal for politicians accused of corruption, criminal breach of trust and money laundering can be valid and legitimate after a proper trial. But a discharge amounting to acquittal or not amounting to acquittal caused by a withdrawal of charges under Section 254 of the Criminal Procedure Code or an inordinate delay in prosecution or appeal by the Attorney General’s Chambers will erode public confidence.

The research reports these basic findings:

• A total of 28 corruption, criminal breach of trust and money laundering cases involving 21 current or former MPs or state assembly members had been initiated or continued since 10 May 2018.
• Nine of these cases are ongoing in the trial court, while 19 others have been disposed of, namely ending in conviction or in a discharge amounting to acquittal or not amounting to acquittal.
• Of the 19 cases, 10 were disposed of due to a withdrawal of charges by the Attorney General’s Chambers under Section 254 of the Criminal Procedure Code at various stages of the proceedings. In these cases, the court’s role was limited to deciding whether to grant a discharge amounting to acquittal or not amounting to an acquittal.
• Three of the 10 withdrawals are legitimate on the grounds of death, technical correction and pre-trial payment of compound.

The troubling patterns evident in the following cases warrants public attention and requires bold reform initiatives by the federal government to prevent similar occurrences and to restore public confidence:

• Charge withdrawal resulting in a discharge not amounting to acquittal after a prima facie finding and 77 days of trial – Deputy PM Zahid Hamidi’s Yayasan Akalbudi case (40 charges)
• Charge withdrawal resulting in discharges amounting to acquittal following an undisclosed letter of representation, preventing public scrutiny of the Attorney General’s Chambers’ considerations – former Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng’s case involving the purchase of a house at an allegedly discounted price (two charges)
• Charge withdrawal resulting in discharges amounting to acquittal before the commencement of trial, based on an affidavit by a former attorney general and a letter of representation from the defendant – former Sabah chief minister Musa Aman’s corruption cases (46 charges)
• Withdrawal of appeal two years after filing against a High Court discharge amounting to acquittal ruling, citing absence of evidence, thereby raising questions about the initial basis for appeal – DPM Zahid Hamidi’s Visa Luar Negara (foreign visa) case (47 charges).
• Appeal struck out due to the Attorney General’s Chamber’s failure to meet the statutory deadline for filing a petition of appeal – Former Prime Minister Najib Razak’s 1MDB audit tampering case, involving co-defendant Arul Kanda Kandasamy (one charge for Najib).
• A discharge not amounting to acquittal granted due to the inordinate delay caused by the attorney general’s inability to declassify and disclose required documents under Section 51A of the Criminal Prosecutor Code – former Prime Minister Najib Razak’s Ipic case (6 charges)
• Discharge not amounting to acquittal granted following a prolonged delay arising from multiple postponements requested by both the prosecution and the defence – former Prime Minister Najib Razak’s SRC International (SRC2) (three charges)

Projek Sama is deeply concerned that the passage of time since discharge not amounting to acquittal orders were granted in the following cases (in days up to 9 December 2025), strengthens the defendants’ potential arguments for conversion to discharge not amounting to acquittal. This potentially makes a discharge not amounting to acquittal a precursor for a discharge amounting to acquittal, if assisted by delays or other failures on the part of the Attorney General’s Chambers:

• Former Bachok MP Nasharudin Mat Isa’s case (1917 days)
• Former Federal Territories minister Tengku Adnan Mansor’s Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission case (1,828 days)
• Zahid’s YAB case (827 days)
• Najib’s Ipic case (377 days)
• Najib’s SRC2 case (172 days)

Projek Sama calls on the federal government to embark on bold reforms in two directions:

Prosecutorial reform, beyond the necessary condition of attorney general– public prosecutor separation, which must include best practices in other Commonwealth jurisdictions like the UK

• Independent inspection
• Parliamentary accountability
• Code of conduct and prosecution guidelines
• Reporting requirements

Political financing reform, which must encompass:

• a political financing act that clearly distinguishes between legitimate political donations
• amendment to the Election Offences Act 1954 to stop elections being competitions in spending slush funds
• Vote-based public funding for candidates and parties to reduce the overdependence of private funding by candidates or parties

– Projek Sama

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