Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad does not see a pressing need for former attorney-general Abdul Gani Patail to explain why he did not order for former Sabah chief minister Musa Aman to be prosecuted despite sufficient evidence.

Instead, it is the MACC that must provide an explanation, he said.

“Even if he (Abdul Gani) explains, that is not going to help.

“The other people must explain [...] Other people meaning the anti-corruption division (MACC) and all that, they must explain why in those days, there was no prosecution (against Musa),” he told the media when asked after an event at the Perdana Leadership Foundation in Putrajaya today.

“There is a reason for it. I think the matter is not fully understood, and I think we will see some clarification made, not by (former) AG himself,” Mahathir added.

Kepong MP Lim Lip Eng previously said that Abdul Gani owed the public an explanation, questioning if his reluctance to prosecute Musa back in 2012 was due to fear of the latter or due to their reported family ties.

Gopal Sri Ram, the prosecutor in Musa’s ongoing graft case, had similarly expressed “amazement” at how Gani had not taken action despite the MACC having a strong case with testimony from foreign witnesses.

"For the strangest reason, the case had been ordered to be closed previously," Gopal had said.

Gani, who is now part of the 1MDB taskforce, served as the AG from 2002 to 2015.

Back in 2012, it was revealed that the MACC’s operations review panel had once requested Gani to review his decision to close the case on Musa.

Musa, who is Sungai Sibuga assemblyperson, was on Monday charged with 35 counts of graft for receiving a total of US$63,293,924.88 (RM263 million) in bribes in exchange for logging contracts issued between 2004 and 2008.

He claimed trial to the charges which pertain to alleged kickbacks he received from 16 timber concession companies when he had been the chairperson of Yayasan Sabah.