This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on May 15, 2018

KUALA LUMPUR: Not even a week has passed since Pakatan Harapan’s historic election win, and several prominent names closely associated with ousted prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak have been relieved of their duties.

This is in keeping with new Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s promise soon after the election last Wednesday that “heads of certain departments must fall”. Mahathir was referring to those who defended the Najib administration’s alleged wrongdoing in government agencies, including covering up graft and abuse of power.

For now, the agencies that have seen their top officials resign or removed include the Federal Land Development Authority (Felda), the ministry of finance (MoF), Performance Management and Delivery Unit (Pemandu), Attorney-General’s Chambers, and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).

An early casualty was Tan Sri Mohd Irwan Serigar Abdullah, whose contract as Malaysia’s Treasury secretary-general will now end in a month’s time (June 14) instead of the original expiry date of March 6, 2019.

Chief Secretary to the Government Tan Sri Dr Ali Hamsa announced yesterday that Mohd Irwan, who is also the chairman of 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB), has been placed in the Public Service Department with immediate effect and is not permitted to act as secretary-general or perform any task relating to the MoF.

Meanwhile, Attorney-General (AG) Tan Sri Mohamed Apandi Ali was also told to go on leave by Dr Mahathir yesterday, and will be temporarily replaced by Solicitor-General Datuk Engku Nor Faizah Engku Atek.

“He (Mohamed Apandi) has just been given [a] new contract,  and [his] suspension needed a few procedures, that’s why we [have] given him a holiday. We don’t have a formal report against him yet. Only based on a formal report can investigation be carried out,” said Dr Mahathir.

It has also been learnt that Pemandu chief executive officer Datuk Seri Idris Jala and his team members have also been asked to vacate their offices in the Prime Minister’s Department.

Those who have sent in their resignation letters include MACC chief commissioner Tan Sri Dzulkifli Ahmad, and Felda chairman Tan Sri Shahrir Abdul Samad.

Both Dzulkifli and Shahrir tendered their resignations yesterday.

The agencies headed by Mohamed Apandi and Dzulkifli until recently were part of the 1MDB Special Task Force set up in 2015 to investigate alleged mismanagement of 1MDB funds, including ties to the bank accounts of Najib.

The task force comprised former AG  Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail, former MACC chief Tan Sri Abu Kassim Mohamed, former Bank Negara Malaysia governor Tan Sri Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz, and former inspector-general of police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar.

The task force members were holding their respective positions during the investigation, but the probe came to a halt after Abdul Gani was retired for “health concerns” in July 2015 and replaced by Mohamed Apandi.

Abu Kassim, whose contract with MACC was to end on Dec 4, 2018, resigned in 2016. He, however, denied having been pressured to do so by any quarters.

Dzulkifli was then appointed as the anti-graft agency’s chief on Aug 1, 2016, taking over from Abu Kassim.

Meanwhile, Felda’s Shahrir was appointed to replace Tan Sri Mohd Isa Abdul Samad as the chairman of the agency in June 2017, following an internal investigation into Felda’s listed subsidiary Felda Global Ventures Holdings Bhd (FGV) for mismanagement of the company’s business dealings.

Pemandu’s Idris was roped in for the investigation into FGV as an independent party.