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Thomas wanted Dr M to do his bidding in appointing judges, says report

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A special task force says Tommy Thomas as attorney-general had also applied pressure on the chief justice to have three lawyers directly appointed as Court of Appeal judges.

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Free Malaysia Today
Tommy Thomas sought the intervention of then prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad in appointing judges, according to a government report.

PETALING JAYA:
Tommy Thomas, while attorney-general (AG), had wanted Dr Mahathir Mohamad “to do his bidding in a manner contrary to the law” in appointing three lawyers as Court of Appeal judges, according to a government report.

A special task force that investigated Thomas’ memoir said in its report that he had “powerful vested interests” in the appointment of judges.

The findings of the task force were declassified and published today by the legal affairs division of the Prime Minister’s Department.

The task force said Thomas had written that judges at the Court of Appeal were weak in commercial law, and that such expertise could only be gained by being in active legal practice.

Free Malaysia Today

Thomas said he proposed to Chief Justice Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat that three lawyers in private practice “with strong commercial law background” be appointed straight to the Court of Appeal.

Tengku Maimun had initially stated her support but later said the Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) required that a judge in a superior court must first serve as a judicial commissioner and then as a High Court judge.

“The only solution was for me to seek the agreement of the prime minister (Mahathir) to make the three appointments,” Thomas wrote in his book.

The task force said Thomas’ discussion with the chief justice about the appointments “straight to the Court of Appeal” had evidenced the then AG’s “powerful vested interests” in the appointments of judges.

It added that Thomas had been applying “partisan pressure” on Tengku Maimun in an attempt at influencing the appointment of Court of Appeal judges.

“It is evident … that Thomas had taken a personal interest in the appointment of judges, including submitting three names of members of the Bar for the direct appointment to the Court of Appeal,” the report said.

As the AG then, Thomas “should not have discussed and/or get involved in any matter concerning the appointment of judges at all”, the task force said, as such appointments were essentially the statutory function of the JAC.

“The chief justice had rightly, after having consulted the JAC, decided not to entertain Thomas’ proposal,” the task force said.

The task force added that Thomas’ move to approach Mahathir was an “attempt to use political or executive influence” to see the proposed appointments come to pass.

It said the then AG had failed in his duty to advise the then prime minister that he had no authority to select candidates for appointments to the judiciary.

“Instead, he wanted the prime minister to do his bidding in a manner contrary to the law pertaining to the selection and appointment of judges.”

It added that the Bar Council declined to respond when asked if it had written to Tengku Maimun about the alleged weakness in the Court of Appeal. There was also seemingly no consultation between Thomas and the Bar on the matter.

Thomas’ book “My Story: Justice in the Wilderness” was published in January last year.

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