The MACC has passed the buck back to the Attorney-General's Chambers (AGC) for not charging former Sabah chief minister Musa Aman over graft allegations back in 2012.

"The commission had already conducted its investigations into Musa, after which the investigation paper on the accused was submitted to the AGC on July 2012 for further action.

"However, the then AGC decided not to pursue with any charges as it was of the view that the investigation was related to political donation.

"At that particular time, it was the policy of the AGC not to charge any cases related to political donations," the MACC said in a statement today.

The attorney-general in 2012 was Abdul Gani Patail.

The MACC was responding to Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad who yesterday said that it was the graftbusters, and not Gani, who should explain why Musa was not charged in 2012.

Musa, who is the Sungai Sibuga assemblyperson, was on Monday charged with 35 counts of graft for receiving a total of US$63,293,924.88 (RM263 million) in bribes in exchange for logging contracts issued between 2004 and 2008.

Gopal Sri Ram, the prosecutor in Musa’s ongoing graft case, had expressed “amazement” at how Gani had not taken action despite the MACC having a strong case with testimony from foreign witnesses.

Kepong MP Lim Lip Eng also previously said that Gani owed the public an explanation, questioning if his reluctance to prosecute Musa in 2012 was due to fear of the latter or due to their reported family ties.