An opposition party today accused Attorney-General (AG) Abdul Gani Patail of trying to 'wash his hands' off the Metramac scandal.

Seeing red over his statement that he had no power to initiate investigations into the matter, Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) described this as 'appalling'.

"In fact, it is the responsibility of the AG (left) to instruct the relevant agencies such as the police or the Anti-Corruption Agency to investigate.

"Based on the evidence gathered by these agencies the AG would decide whether to proceed with prosecution against the alleged wrongdoers," said PKR vice-president Sivarasa Rasiah in a statement.

He said it was disappointing that Gani had chose to disregard the seriousness of the scandal which came to light in a recent Court of Appeal judgment.

He urged the AG to order an immediate inquiry and bring all the alleged perpetrators to trial, adding that it was pointless for any of the accused parties to make a press statements denying their involvement.

Business tycoon Halim Saad, who was accused in the judgment of siphoning RM32 million from toll concessionaire Metramac Corporation Sdn Bhd with his ex-partner Anuar Othman, had rebutted the charge in a nine-page media statement.

Former finance minister Daim Zainuddin, who was also implicated, had since denied the allegation via a media statement as well.

Challenge to AG

In a related development, a PKR Youth wing delegation will submit a memorandum to the AG tomorrow to challenge him to take up the case.

"The finding by Justice Gopal (Sri Ram) who concluded that Daim was involved in the deal was after a court process and careful deliberation of evidence.

"What more does the AG want?" asked vice-president Shamsul Iskandar Mohd Ain, who will lead the delegation.

As for the AG saying he wanted to wait for police investigations first, he replied: "Why in the case of (former deputy premier) Anwar Ibrahim, the AG's chambers did not wait for the police to finish its investigations, Why are they suddenly being bureaucratic?"

Shamsul also expressed support for Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chairperson Shahrir Abdul Samad's proposal to make the AG a political appointee.
"I support any proposal that breeds transparency and accountability. Right now the AG is the most powerful person in Malaysia. There is no check and balance on how he carries his duties," he said.

In a news report today, Shahrir proposed that the AG should have a ministerial rank hence making him answerable to the public and Parliament.