No interfering in VIP court cases, Annuar Musa tells new govt

KUALA LUMPUR (Bernama) The newly formed Perikatan Nasional coalition government should never interfere in court affairs, like trying to drop high-profile cases involving their party members, says Umno secretary-general Tan Sri Annuar Musa (pic).

Urging all parties to respect the concept of separation of powers between the executive, legislature and judiciary, he said no one should try to mix the legal system with political interests.

"Although the government has changed, the legal system functions as usual...therefore the executive branch cannot interfere...if we respect this concept there will be no worry.

"If we interfere by withdrawing cases of those charged, the people would say the government does not respect the law and the judicial body is not independent; so, don’t mar that concept,” he said on Sunday (March 1).

However, Annuar said politically motivated cases where leaders were hauled to court without solid evidence should be stopped.

He said at the same time it was up to Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin whether or not to appoint them to his Cabinet based on his consideration.

"Whether appointed or not, let’s not judge because a person is innocent until proven guilty...I am confident the Prime Minister will use his wisdom and political experience to choose his Cabinet line-up,” he said.

Annuar also said the Perikatan Nasional government has no place for racial chauvinists who only want to champion the interests of their own groups.

"Although this coalition is dominated by the Malays, we should not look after the well-being of only one race...the Cabinet is only for those who value diversity and joint roles.

"I am sure the Prime Minister will have a multi-racial line-up in his cabinet. Insya-Allah Muhyiddin will not choose people with a racist or chauvinistic attitude,” he added.

Meanwhile, PKR's Gooi Hsiao Leung has also called on Muhyiddin to give assurance that all pending criminal investigations and cases against Umno leaders will continue to proceed as normal.

Citing several active cases, the PKR Bukit Tengah assemblyperson said in a Facebook post on Monday (March 2), that none of the leaders who have pending court or criminal cases against them should be appointed into the Cabinet.

So far, Umno president Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi is facing 87 counts of criminal charges while former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and his wife, Rosmah Mansor, are facing 62 counts of criminal charges in total.- Bernama