It has already been 18 months since lawyer Rosli Dahlan filed an RM48 million suit for prosecutorial misconduct against Attorney-General Abdul Gani Patail and other top government officers - but they have not filed their defence till today.

However, today, Gani's lawyer Cecil Abraham requested a further extension of another week for Gani and the others to file their defence.

Lawyer Parvinder Kaur Cheema, for Rosli, confirmed that the extension was requested and it was agreed that it would run from today until next Friday.

“Our client, Rosli, was amenable to grant the extension in the spirit of Ramadan,” Parvinder said when contacted by Malaysiakini .

“The extension starts today and will expire in a week’s time. This is an internal arrangement between the lawyers and it was not sought from the court,” she said.

This is the second extension sought by Gani following the extension granted last week.

Rosli ( photo ), when contacted by Malaysiakini, also confirmed that he had conceded to the request.

“I have instructed my solicitors, against their initial advice, that in the spirit of Ramadan, we should grant the extension, despite it being overdue for 18 months.

“I hope the AG and the other defendants will use the time to prepare their statement of defence and not use my kindness to launch a new set of interlocutory applications just to delay the trial,” he said.

Previously, Rosli had complained that Gani and the other defendants were delaying the trial and had taken a leaf from Anwar Ibrahim by making various interlocutory applications, as was done in the Sodomy II trial.

Besides Rosli, former Commercial Crime Investigation Department director Ramli Yusuf has also filed a similar RM128 million suit against Gani, former inspector-general of police Musa Hassan, and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) following their actions on him and Rosli over the Copgate affair .

Fail to strike out suits

Despite not filing their defence, Gani, along with Musa and MACC chief commissioner Abu Kasim Mohamad, then MACC prosecution head Abdul Razak Musa, its former prosecution head Nordin Hassan, the police, and the government sought to strike out the suits filed by Rosli and Ramli.

However, High Court judge Vazeer Alam Mydin Meera dismissed their striking-out application on April 11, 2014, ruling that the AG is not immune to legal action as there is no place for absolute immunity in a democracy.

Gani and the others had appealed to the Court of Appeal on April 1 but this court, too, in a unanimous decision , dismissed their appeal and ordered them to pay RM25,000 in costs.

Gani and the others then tried to appeal to the Federal Court for leave to appeal but the case was postponed after Cecil asked for an adjournment.

On May 28, Justice Vazeer ordered Gani and the others to file their defence within 30 days. The case is now fixed before Justice Vazeer on July 27.