Tommy Thomas resigns as AG
Attorney-General Tommy Thomas has submitted his resignation letter to Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, according to a news report.
Contacted by Malaysiakini for confirmation, he replied: "Yes."
Attorney-General Tommy Thomas has submitted his resignation letter to Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, according to a news report.
Contacted by Malaysiakini for confirmation, he replied: "Yes."
Quoting a source, The Edge said Thomas wanted to resign while Mahathir was still heading the nation.
Mahathir appointed him for a two-year term on June 4, 2018, which was scheduled to expire in June this year.
The Edge also said it is not clear what would happen with the cases which Thomas had pursued such as those related to the 1MDB scandal involving former premier Najib Abdul Razak.
Thomas had also instituted criminal proceedings against many other members of the previous BN-led administration, including corruption charges against former deputy prime minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, former Federal Territories minister Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor, and former Felda chairperson Isa Samad.
These cases are still ongoing.
He had also courted controversy over to the decision to charge 12 people for alleged links to the defunct militant group Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, and then abruptly dropping the charges.
BN politicians and some civil society groups, meanwhile, had criticised Thomas for his decision to drop corruption charges against then finance minister Lim Guan Eng.
On Facebook, Najib shared the news of Thomas’ resignation, saying: “Tommy has quit? Does Guan Eng know his lawyer has resigned?”
It is believed that the former premier's sarcastic swipe could be related to Thomas' decision to drop the charges against the DAP leader and other related matters.
In an earlier post, before news of Thomas’ resignation broke, Najib mused that cases against Lim could be reinstated if PKR president Anwar Ibrahim fails in his bid to become prime minister.
He noted that the MACC had expressed shock over the decision by Thomas to drop corruption charges against Lim.
In addition, Najib noted the MACC had said on March 4, last year that the attorney-general has yet to decide on five investigation papers on alleged corruption in the Penang Undersea Tunnel project, although investigations had begun over a year earlier in January 2018.
“Guan Eng, are you afraid?” he chided.
Thomas had also faced contempt proceedings over his comment regarding deceased firefighter Muhammad Adib Mohd Kassim, but the Shah Alam High Court subsequently set the matter aside.
