THE Attorney General has the sole discretion to withdraw the murder charge against Indonesian Siti Aisyah, who was earlier charged with murdering Kim Jong-nam, the half-brother of the North Korean leader, says Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Liew Vui Keong (pic).
He said under the Federal Constitution, the AG who is also the Public Prosecutor, has the discretion to proceed or to discontinue with any criminal case.
“The AG can exercise this power even during trial.
“The government cannot interfere with the AG’s authority,” Liew told reporters during when met at the Parliament lobby.
He also cited the case involving Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng, in which the ongoing case was dropped by the AG.
Liew said the AG would usually exercise his power after taking into consideration all relevant circumstances.
When asked if he was aware of what had transpired with regard to the Indonesian embassy’s efforts to lobby for Siti Aisyah’s release, Liew said he was unaware of it.
Siti Aisyah and Vietnamese national Doan Thi Huong were accused of smearing VX nerve agent on the face of Kim Jong-un’s half brother in an airport terminal.
The Indonesian government said its continual high-level lobbying had resulted in the release of the Indonesian woman.
The foreign ministry explained in a statement on Monday that Siti Aisyah was “deceived and did not realise at all that she was being manipulated by North Korean intelligence”.
It said Siti Aisyah, a migrant worker in the country, believed that she was part of a reality TV show and never had any intention of killing Jong-nam.
It added Siti Aisyah’s plight was raised in “every bilateral Indonesia-Malaysia meeting, both at the president’s level, the vice-president and regular meetings of the Minister of Foreign Affairs and other ministers with their Malaysian partners”.
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