Letters | Anwar is not to blame for the failed case against Najib’s wife

Readers discuss the charges against the former first lady of Malaysia, and what Gisele Pelicot could do next

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Rosmah Mansor (right), wife of Malaysia’s jailed former prime minister Najib Razak, and their daughter Nooryana Najwa (left) leave the federal court in Putrajaya on March 31, 2023. Photo: AFP

Published: 11:30am, 29 Dec 2024

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I refer to the article, “2 years on, is Anwar’s pledge to eliminate corruption in Malaysia facing a reality check?” (December 20).

I agree with the writer that it isn’t easy being prime minister of Malaysia, where the buck stops even in the case of former first lady Rosmah Mansor being acquitted of over a dozen charges of money laundering and tax evasion, after a Kuala Lumpur High Court ruled that the charges were flawed.

In fact, the responsibility should lie with the Attorney General Chambers for filing charges that did not meet the requirements of the law.

The law on charges is set out in Chapter XVIII of the Criminal Procedure Code; in particular, section 163 provides that for every distinct offence, there shall be a separate charge, and illustrates the point with an example: “A is accused of a theft on one occasion, and of causing grievous hurt on another occasion. A must be separately charged and separately tried for the theft and causing grievous hurt.”

The offences of theft and causing grievous hurt are therefore distinct offences.

There are numerous ways in which distinct offences occur, but three obvious instances are when the offences are under different sections of the Malaysian Penal Code or any other penal statute; under the same section of the law but committed at different times or on different occasions; or committed against different persons.