The Kuala Lumpur High Court today dismissed former minister Zaid Ibrahim's application to obtain leave from the court to challenge the Attorney-General's Chambers’ decision not to charge Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.

In ruling it cannot interfere, Justice Hanipah Farikullah said the plaintiff had to find other avenues.

"Hence, the application is dismissed," she said.

The court accepted the argument by the senior federal counsel team led by Amarjeet Singh that the AG had absolute discretion under Article 145(3) of the Federal Constitution.

Zaid, who looked dejected with the decision, asked where one could find another avenue if not the courts.

"If you have a crooked PM, all you have to do is appoint a crooked AG. No one else can do anything. If that is the situation in this country, God save this country."

Najib had denied any wrongdoing over 1MDB and the AG had cleared the PM's involvement in the fund.

In a tweet, the police chief, who is currently abroad for a conference, said the former law minister’s remarks were seditious and confusing.

Zaid had said he is not going to appeal the court decision as they were asking for RM30,000 as costs.

"Imagine asking RM30,000 from a retired person who is doing this for the country."

In the end, the court did not allow costs.

Zaid's lawyers, Amarjit Sidhu and Gopal Sri Ram, indicated that he is not appealing.

Later when delivering the decision on former Batu Kawan Umno division vice-chief Khairuddin Abu Hassan and the Malaysian Bar, the court also dismissed their applications on similar grounds that the decision by the AG remains unfettered.

Malaysian Bar disappointed

Commenting on the decision, Malaysian Bar president Steven Thiru said the Bar felt disappointed as the decision did not take into account the changes happening regarding judicial reviews in other jurisdictions especially in the Commonwealth countries.

“The question of whether the discretion of the AG as public prosecutor is unfettered and not open to judicial review has undergone changes both here and in other Commonwealth jurisdictions. This is therefore an ideal case for the court to deal with the matter.

“We expected leave to be granted as we ventilated thoroughly on the critical issues and we believe we should have been given an opportunity to deal with public interests issues. We will study the written grounds and decide later whether to appeal,” he added.

Thiru also expressed disappointment when the chambers asked for costs amounting to RM60,000 from the Malaysian Bar, for a public interest matter.

After hearing the submissions, Justice Hanipah dismissed the plaintiff's application to pay costs to the AG or the chambers.

The Bar was represented by a team of lawyers led by Tommy Thomas and Ambiga Sreenevasan.

Meanwhile, Khairuddin's lawyer Mohd Haniff Khatri Abdulla said despite the court refusing to grant leave, the judge suggested that the matter should be taken to higher courts as she is bound by previous decisions.

“Hence, we will consider appealing the decision,” he said.

MACC should re-open investigations

One of the prayers sought by Khairuddin, Haniff said, was to allow the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) to further investigate 1MDB and the donation issues.

He said Apandi, who was directly named as the respondent by Khairuddin, had affirmed in an affidavit that what he said last January during a press conference did not amount to asking investigations to be stopped.

“With this being noted by the court in not granting us leave on that prayer, it is incumbent now on the new MACC chief commissioner Dzulkifli Ahmad to ask the commission to continue its investigations on Najib.

“He should also ask for mutual legal assistance (MLA) to gather evidence in other countries. This had been stopped by Apandi last January and now Apandi following his affidavit in court should also allow the MLA and investigations to proceed. Hence, there is no bar for the MACC to investigate,” he added.

Previously, it was reported that Khairuddin had filed reports with authorities in five countries regarding 1MDB which is now subject of an international probe.

Yesterday, Haniff was reported to have challenged Dzulkifli to re-open the case against 1MDB and apply for MLA.

On Khairuddin's request for a Royal Commission of Inquiry, Haniff said this is under the discretion of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong and not within the realm of the court.

The other senior federal counsels representing the chambers were Awang Armadajaya Awang Mahmud, Suzana Atan, and Shamsul Bolhassan.