Attorney-General (AG) Abdul Gani Patail attended the Royal Pardons Board meeting in March, but it was Agong Sultan Abdul Halim Muadzam Shah who turned down PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim's petition on his sodomy conviction.

 

This was revealed by Minister in the Prime Minister's Department, Nancy Shukri.

 

"The power to pardon is prerogative of the agong," she told R Sivarasa (PKR-Subang) in a parliamentary written reply yesterday.

 

"The King is free to decide whether he accepts the advice of the Pardons Board for Federal Territory Kuala Lumpur, Labuan and Putrajaya, which includes the views of the attorney-general," she said.

 

Sivarasa asked if Abdul Gani ( photo ) attended and took part at the pardon board meeting, on March 16, without mentioning Anwar's name.

 

The pardon board meeting chaired by Agong on March 16, had dismissed Anwar's family application for clemency on his five year sentence for sodomy.

 

Malaysiakini had reported that former Kuala Lumpur CID chief Mat Zain Ibrahim suspected that Abdul Gani did not disclose he was under investigation in relation to Anwar's sodomy II conviction.

 

"Abdul Gani attended the meeting," she confirmed.

 

His attendance was in line with the Article 42 of Federal Constitution which stipulated the federal's attorney-general, the state chief minister and a maximum of three members appointed by the rulers, sit in state's pardon board, she said.

 

Under the constitution, the attorney-general is duty-bound to give opinions to the pardons board, before the board offers advice to the agong, she said.