KUALA LUMPUR: Former attorney-general (AG) Tan Sri Mohamed Apandi Ali could not control his emotions and cried in the courtroom today.
He was reduced to tears while testifying about what he had to go through when he was the AG.
He was testifying in his defamation suit against DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang over the latter's remarks linking him to the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) scandal.
Looking back at his time when he was holding the post, Apandi said he had made sacrifices but people still condemned him.
"I had never asked for it. I never campaigned or lobbied to be the AG.
"I was a Federal Court judge looking forward to retirement when I was suddenly appointed as the AG. Judges retire at 66 years of age and I was appointed when I was 65.
"For pension purposes I did not clock the full number of years and months for me to receive a full pension... it was not a pensionable post, it was a contract post.
"That is the sacrifice I have made because I was given the job and task to be the AG," he said.
Apandi thanked the court for giving him room to express his feelings which he said had been bottled up for so long.
"People condemn me... sorry I cannot proceed," he said before tearing up.
The court then went into a short recess for Apandi to calm down as he was unable to continue with his testimony at that point.
Apandi was responding to a question by his lawyer M. Visvanathan on a New York Times news article over the scandal.
He said as the AG, he was a very busy man and did not have the luxury of reading the local newspapers or foreign news as he had assumed two roles, namely as the legal adviser to the government and the public prosecutor.
"The article is a news report from New York Times and it was reported immediately after my press conference dated Jan 26, 2016," Apandi said.
He told the court that while holding the position, he hardly managed to take any leave from work and that the role was not just "a walk in the park".
He added that the job had also taken a toll on his health and that he was currently subjected to checkups at the National Heart Institute (IJN) because of all the stress he faced.
The trial continues tomorrow before High Court Datuk Azimah Omar.
Apandi, who is now a solicitor, claimed that Lim in an article published by news portal Malaysiakini implied that the former had a major role in aiding and abetting the 1MDB fiasco.
The article titled "Dangerous fallacy to think Malaysia is on the road to integrity" was published on May 6, 2019.
Apandi said the article had tainted his reputation by claiming that he was directly involved, assisted and abetted in the 1MDB scandal.