PETALING JAYA: The Attorney General's Chambers has rejected claims in a lawsuit that Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim should have been disqualified from serving as an MP and as Prime Minister.
It said that a royal pardon in 2018 fully restored Anwar's eligibility to serve. In a statement Thursday (Aug 10), the AGC said the 15th Yang di-Pertuan Agong had granted Anwar a full pardon, reinstating his legal status "as a person who has never committed any offence".
This meant that there was no basis for disqualification under Article 48(1)(e) of the Federal Constitution, it added.
The AGC issued the statement following a suit filed by lawyer and former minister P. Waytha Moorthy, who is seeking to nullify Anwar's election as Tambun MP on Nov 19, 2022, and his appointment as the 10th Prime Minister five days later.
Waytha argued that the pardon did not expressly exempt Anwar from the constitutional five-year ban on contesting elections after a prison release.
He claimed that without such an exemption, Anwar should have been barred from standing in the 15th General Election.
Citing the 2023 Court of Appeal's decision in Anwar Ibrahim v Mohd Khairul Azam Abdul Aziz, the AGC said that the King held the constitutional authority to pardon both the conviction and the sentence.
"Therefore, there is no question of Datuk Seri Anwar being disqualified as a member of the Dewan Rakyat or as prime minister," it said.
The AGC further said that any challenge to an MP's election must be made through an election petition under Article 118 of the Federal Constitution and within the time frame stipulated in Section 38 of the Election Offences Act 1954.
