Malaysia's new attorney-general Mohamed Apandi Ali, 65, a former Federal Court judge, was a deputy public prosecutor (DPP) who served in Terengganu and Kelantan in 1977 to 1980.
He is the ninth attorney-general in the country after Abdul Gani Patail.
Apandi read law at the University of London, with other government scholars and graduated in 1972, after which he returned home and went on to serve as a magistrate, from 1973 to 1975.
Apandi had served in various capacities in his legal career. Other than serving as a DPP, he was also director of the Kota Bharu Legal Aid Bureau in 1980.
He was also legal adviser to the Trade and Industry Ministry in 1980 and 1982, after which he opened his private practice, which he ran from 1982 until 2003.
Apandi then entered judicial service, following his appointment as a judicial commissioner in 2003, and was confirmed as a High Court judge in 2007, serving in Kuala Lumpur.
He was appointed a Court of Appeal judge on April 14, 2010 and on Sept 30, 2013, he was elevated to the Federal Court.
Former Umno man
During his time with the Court of Appeal, he led a three-member bench that heard the the Allah issue, on the use of the word Allah by the Roman Catholic publication, The Herald.
He also led the three-member bench in acquitting Chief Inspector Azilah Hadri and Cpl Sirul Azhar Umar in the Altantuya Shaariibuu murder case.
Apandi is also a former Kelantan Umno treasurer.
Due to his involvement in Umno prior to being appointed a judge, many people, including former opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, have applied for Apandi not to sit in any of the panels hearing their cases.
In the Federal Court, Apandi was in the panel hearing the controversial child custody case between S Deepa and N Viran@Izwan Abdullah.
He also sat in the case where Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi was allowed to keep his Bagan Datoh parliamentary seat in a legal challenge filed by PKR candidate Madhi Hassan.
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