Apandi contradicted again – Sir Wenger Khairy

Yet again, the prime minister said the complete opposite of the attorney-general (A-G). In fact, it is becoming a habit for this A-G to be contradicted at every turn.

On January 27, 2016, A-G Tan Sri Mohamed Apandi Ali was quoted by The Star as saying “Najib also did not commit any offence under the Penal Code and there is no evidence to show that he knew, was informed of or had approved the transfer of monies from SRC International to his personal accounts.

“Evidence showed that at all material times, the prime minister was of the belief that all payments to him were from the donation of the Saudi royal family, that was earlier transferred to his personal accounts.”

Today, Najib in his parliamentary reply said SRC International did not know of any funds transferred to his own accounts.

The contradiction is clear.

Apandi said the money was transferred by SRC into Najib’s accounts but the prime minister thought that it was “a donation”.

Najib said that SRC did not know about the transfer.

Interestingly, Apandi came well recommended by the Malay power elite and his appointment as the A-G of Malaysia was greeted very enthusiastically by Chief Justice Tun Arifin Zakaria who branded him as “superb”.

However, the A-G cannot continue to issue statements only to get contradicted a week or two later.

This is because such contradictions undermine his credibility and could cause deep embarrassment to those have given high marks to Apandi’s capability.

I think the issue is down to a loose “command and control” structure in place inside the Prime Minister’s Office. There is persistent talk of many different actors and all sorts of media men having their say in the PM's public relations pie.

So it is always a guess who is going to answer which question and in what way? One chap may say, “just say the PM though it was a donation”. Another may say, “Just deny deny deny. Deny it ever took place.”

So here is how you get a contradiction – all these advisers just shooting from the hip while collecting their multi-million ringgit pay cheque.

Of course, when so many lies have been spun, it becomes difficult to say anything more without contradicting oneself or somebody else.

Won’t it be easy for the apologists in the government if the PM actually hired a single disciplined team with a consistent well tested lie so that they don’t look silly all the time? – March 9, 2016.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insider.