The dispensing of justice involves four layers of scrutiny – the investigative arm (police/Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, etc), the Attorney-General’s Chambers (prosecution), the defence team, and the judiciary, in that order.
After the Attorney-General has found grounds to prosecute, the deputy public prosecutor must first establish a prima facie case against the accused, which is another safeguard in the quest for justice.
If a person is found guilty by the lower courts, he has recourse for redress at the appellate and Federal Courts, which would then decide to either uphold or overturn the convictions.
It is a long process that could be further lengthened by numerous other processes, including representations to strike out the charges, among other things.
Most cases involving the common man would end up at the High Court. A few might ascend to the appellate court.
But high-profile cases involving politicians, the rich and powerful, and the politically-connected, would go all the way to the Federal Court and even beyond, to judicial review.
The separation of powers of the judiciary, executive, and legislative, is also a fallacy as there is no strict separation of each body. The executive has an overriding control on all government institutions and can influence them directly, or indirectly.
It is the authority that appoints the key officers in these institutions, including the judiciary and the attorney-general.
All these officers are under the category of civil servants who are subject to the government’s General Orders.
Normally, a responsible and accountable government would refrain from exerting undue interference in these institutions, except when it involves threats to national security and public order, or the desecration of the institutions that tarnish their image, and by extension, the government’s, and the nation’s.
The recent judicial proceedings involving Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi have courted controversy and have called into question the independence and separation of powers between the executive and the judiciary, especially the position of the Attorney-General’s Chambers.
Although a prima facie case had been established and the accused was ordered to enter his defence, the attorney-general decided to drop all 47 charges against the deputy prime minister.
The trial judge had no option but to accede to the decision of the attorney-general for he, the AG, has the absolute power to prosecute, or to drop charges.
That Ahmad Zahid was given a discharge not amounting to an acquittal (DNAA) created a lot of controversy among those in the legal fraternity and the society at large. However, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has vehemently denied accusations of executive interference, saying that it was solely the attorney-general’s prerogative.
From a layman’s perspective, the general feeling was that since a prima facie case had been established, it was imperative that the trial proceeded to its logical conclusion, allowing the judge to acquit or convict Ahmad Zahid based on the evidence and arguments presented by both the prosecution and the defence.
Dropping the charges when the trial had proceeded for a considerable length of time invited speculation and controversies. It also undermined the judicial system.
What further fuelled this suspicion was the dropping of the original prosecutor, Datuk Raja Rozela Raja Toran, who succeeded in establishing a prima facie case against Ahmad Zahid. She was replaced with a new deputy public prosecutor who oversaw the dropping of the charges against Ahmad Zahid.
High-profile cases involving VIPs and politicians who were discharged, or given DNAA, compared to the layman, give the impression that not everyone is equal before the law.
There are still a few good men around but their voices and actions are muted by those who have no qualms about transgressing the rule of law for their own selfish ends.
It is imperative that the rule of law be respected, and that justice must prevail without breaching the judicial Rubicon.
The views expressed here are the personal opinion of the writer and do not necessarily represent that of Twentytwo13.
