Monday 19 January 2009

Sabah AG resigns


Sabah State Attorney-General Datuk Roderic Fernandez, who was representing Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Haji Aman in the Mazu (Goddes of the Sea) case in the Kota Kinabalu High Court, dropped a bombshell Monday when he announced that he had resigned as the Sabah Government's top eagle eagle.

He was due to cross-examine the plaintiff in the case, former Chief Minister Tan Sri Chong Kah Kiat, when hearing resumed but he did not turn up, forcing the case to be adjourned by Judicial Commissioner Yew Jen Kie to May 4, 2009.

State Counsel Hanafiah Kassim informed the court that Fernandez had resigned last Friday (Jan 16, 2009).

In a one-paragraph statement, Fernandez, 50, who was appointed State A-G in 2006 by the Head of State on the advice of the Chief Minister, said he had tendered his resignation last Friday with a heavy heart.

"Due to personal family reasons, I have entertaining the idea of resigning for a few months now, he said, adding, "as of late my personal matters have become more pressing." He thanked Musa, who he said, had reluctantly accepted his resignation, and officers of the State A-G's Chambers for their cooperation.

Fernandez took over from Datuk Mohd Bazain Idris in May 2006, prior to which he was mainly involved in civil litigation and conveyancing.

He had been representing Musa and three other defendants in the civil suit brought by Chong pertaining to the construction of a Mazu statue in Kudat whose approval was revoked by the defendants.

The defendants will now be represented by Richard Barnes from the legal firm of Messer Shelley Yap & Co. The other defendants are former State Secretary Datuk KY Mustafa, Local Government and Housing permanent secretary Datuk Ujang Sulani and the Kudat Town Board.

Barnes had applied for a-three-month adjournment of the hearing `in the interest of justice', saying that he had to go through the volumes of document and issues raised pertaining to the case.

The Multi-million ringgit Mazu project was undertaken by the Kudat Thean Hou Charitable Foundation, headed by Chong. Construction was in progress, the statue brought from China when the approval was withdrawn by the defendants.

Chong's lawyer is Haji Ansari Abdullah.

Meanwhile, in a statement later the former A-G denied that his resignation was connected to the Mazu court case.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sounds fishy

Anonymous said...

we want your comments and additional info that not reported by the main stream media...not just an another postman la...

Anonymous said...

The beginning of "The CURSE of MA TZU". More to come .....

ANTON

Anonymous said...

Pusing-pusing pun situ jugak.. ipar CKK partner di Shelly Yap, tampat Richard Barnes....
Mana bulih abis nis..