What S The Plan For Politicians Granted Dnaa Ngo Asks Agc

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Project Stability and Accountability for Malaysia (Projek Sama) urges the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) to reveal its plan on whether they will re-charge politicians who have discharged not amounting to an acquittal (DNAA) cases over their heads.
The NGO specifically mentioned Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak, former federal territories minister Tengku Adnan Mansor, and former PAS deputy president Nasharudin Mat Isa, whose cases were granted DNAA.
“Projek Sama warns that Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim would take the blame politically if they get a discharge and acquittal (DAA) without going through a full trial. 
“(This is) particularly as the prime minister has repeatedly pledged to combat corruption through real, transparent and uncompromising action (which) the public now expects those promises to be upheld in practice.
“Prolonged DNAA is not fair for the defendants; this will enable them to file for DAA,” the NGO said in a statement today.
PM bears ‘ultimate responsibility’
If a full acquittal happens because the AGC fails to press charges again in a reasonable time after withdrawing charges against the four defendants under Section 254 of the Criminal Procedure Code, it could lead members of the public to perceive that the AGC’s actions lack clarity and transparency or may inadvertently favour the defendants, they added.
Projek Sama also said that the prime minister bears ultimate political responsibility if acquittals are given as the attorney-general is appointed and can be dismissed upon the premier’s advice.
Najib and former Treasury secretary-general Irwan Serigar Abdullah were jointly charged with criminal breach of trust (CBT) involving RM6.6 billion in payments to the International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC) in 2018. They were then granted DNAAs on Nov 27 last year.
Zahid was charged with 47 counts of CBT in 2019 involving RM260,000 of Yayasan Akalbudi funds in his capacity as the foundation’s trustee.
He was ordered to defend himself against the charges in 2022, but was then granted DNAA in 2023.
Tengku Adnan was charged in 2018 with allegedly receiving over RM3 million in bribes, but was granted a DNAA in 2020, while Nashruddin was charged with money laundering and CBT in 2019 and granted a DNAA five years ago.
‘Unscrupulous’ move to release Najib?
Pojek Sama further said that granting Najib DNAAs could be seen as an unscrupulous move to dispose of one of his remaining cases before he becomes eligible for parole by Aug 23 next year after serving two-thirds of his discounted sentence of six years’ imprisonment.
Former prime minister Najib Abdul RazakThey added that Anwar could also be blamed if a DAA was granted over the IPIC case for the prosecution’s failure to release evidence to the defence.
“The charges were withdrawn because certain evidential documents relied on by the prosecution are classified as official secrets by the Finance Ministry, thus, unable to be released to the defence team in compliance with Section 51A of the Criminal Procedure Code.
“(And) for that, Anwar, in his capacity as the finance minister, could have expedited the trial by declassifying those documents, with redaction if deemed necessary, but failed to do so.
“Whereas in Zahid’s case, many Malaysians perceive the outcome within the broader context of the Madani coalition government’s reliance on support from Umno, the party led by Zahid (in which) Anwar could debunk the conspiracy theories by making clear that the AGC should act swiftly to again press charges against Zahid.” - Mkini

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