LETTER | In his letter, Eric See-To alleged that I overlooked four critical points in my commentary on the discharge not amounting to an acquittal (DNAA) accorded to former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak.

The primary objective of my article, which See-To claims to be provocative, was to seek answers from those who caused the delay in the declassification of documents related to Najib’s International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC) case.

At a time when accountability and transparency are becoming scarce, it sought to coax the government agencies and ministries involved to explain why, after six long years, the documents had not been prepared for the court case.

It may have been related to Najib’s case, but what was at stake was the reputation of the judicial process and the bureaucracy, which has somewhat clouded it.

It was never intended to question Najib’s guilt or innocence, but it sought answers from the Finance Ministry (which included the Minister of Finance Incorporated), the Energy and Water Transition and Transformation Ministry, and the Transport Ministry (which involved the Land Public Transport Agency, previously known as the Land Public Transport Commission, which falls under the Road Transport Department).

Sadly, the silence from these ministries and their respective minister has been deafening.

Most right-thinking Malaysians would like to know the reasons for the delay and who was responsible.

Simple process

As I pointed out, the process is simple, and I then posed questions to the Attorney-General's Chambers (AGC).

“Which of these ministries acknowledged receipt of the request or responded? Were reminders sent? Or did they ignore the requests?

“And for good measure, I asked: “Shouldn’t the buck stop with the finance minister, who has been shouting himself hoarse for the past two years to compliment his fight against corruption?

“What about the chief secretary to the government? Isn’t this a damning condemnation of senior civil servants? Isn’t this a classic case of “they cannot even organise a drink-up in the brewery?”

See-To's four questions related to the leaked 2019 internal memo from the AGC, which allegedly stated there was no basis or evidence to charge Najib authentic.

Experts and analysts have previously addressed this issue in various forums, which I had come across in the media.

Let me reiterate that these questions never crossed my mind when I put pen to paper because I was not addressing the merits of Najib’s DNAA.

I believe that processes and procedures were not followed, leading to the court's decision, for which someone must answer and be held accountable.

R NADESWARAN is a veteran journalist and columnist.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.