KUALA LUMPUR: The Attorney-General's Chambers (AGC) has rejected former Umno supreme council member Isham Jalil's apology regarding an alleged contemptuous statement made in relation to Datuk Seri Najib Razak's corruption cases involving 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) and SRC International Bhd.
Deputy public prosecutor Mohamad Mustafa P Kunyalam confirmed that the AGC rejected Isham's representation letter, received on March 25.
This means Isham's committal proceedings will go to full trial, which is expected to commence before High Court judge Datuk Noorin Badaruddin on Oct 14.
Isham submitted the representation letter to make an open and unconditional apology to the Judiciary regarding the statement he made.
In the ex-parte application filed Dec 28, last year, the Attorney-General also requested the court to imprison or impose a fine on Isham for the offence.
It was over an interview titled "Townhall for Justice: Keadilan Sebenarnya Untuk Siapa", during which Isham reportedly commented on the trial and appeal of Najib in the SRC International and 1MDB cases.
The comments were published on the Facebook page of "The Malaya Post" on Sept 30 last year.
On April 23, Isham issued an unconditional apology after claiming that the AGC had suggested he filed a representation letter for an unconditional apology.
He said he agreed to the suggestion due to the high legal costs and he wanted to focus on another legal battle with Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's former aide Farhash Wafa Salvador Rizal Mubarak involving the Heitech Padu fiasco.
"The representation was made after it was suggested by the AGC to my lawyer a few weeks ago. Perhaps the AGC does not want to prolong this case in open court.
"Therefore, I agreed with their (AGC's) suggestion because legal costs are quite high, and I am not a wealthy person or a billionaire," he said in a statement.