Newly-appointed Attorney-General Mohamed Apandi Ali must explain his statement on the 'criminal leak' of a purported draft of a charge sheet against Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak from his office.

The call was made by DAP parliamentarian Tony Pua, who today pointed out that while Apandi dismissed the alleged charge sheet, he had also gone on to say there was a "criminal leakage" .

"You cannot say that there's a crime of criminal leakage if there wasn't a leakage. If there was a leakage, then there were some documents that were leaked.

"The question is, are these the documents on the possible charges against the prime minister?" Pua asked at a press conference at the DAP headquarters in Kuala Lumpur today.

"Was there a leakage from the AG's Chambers or not with regard to this draft charge? The new AG needs to clarify this."

Apandi ( photo ) said yesterday that the "alleged charge papers indicate there is a conspiracy to topple a serving prime minister by criminalising him, and that the methods include doctoring (documents) and criminal leakage".

Apandi, in a statement last night, said that the purported draft of the charge sheet, published on whistleblower website Sarawak Report , had pointed in the direction of a plot to topple the prime minister.

'Action can be taken under OSA'

Although online access to Sarawak Report has been blocked, this did not stop the charge sheet from being circulated on the social media, together with the claim it was linked to Abdul Gani Patail’s sudden termination as attorney-general on Tuesday.

Though the official reason cited was health problems, Gani himself appeared clueless about his dismissal and declined to comment if his removal was linked to the 1MDB special task force investigation.

Meanwhile, law expert Abdul Aziz Bari ( photo ), who joined DAP yesterday , said that if there was indeed a leakage, then action could be taken under the Official Secrets Act (OSA).

"Action can be taken under the OSA because public servants are subject to this.

"I just wonder how the draft of a charge sheet can end up in the hands of a third party like Sarawak Report ," he said.

Aziz said if Apandi was serious about the matter, then he should "waste no time and get into action".

"He's the officer in control of his own office, so don't tell me he can't control his office," he said.

At this, Pua pointed out that if a charge was drawn up, then "it means that there was a leakage and the documents are correct".