(May 28): Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail and nine others who are being sued for abuse of power and malicious prosecution have failed to stop the trial from proceeding in the High Court.

Judge Vazeer Alam Mydin Meera today refused a stay proceeding pending their appeal in the Federal Court.

Cheetan Jethwani, who represented lawyer Rosli Dahlan and former commercial crime investigation director Datuk Ramli Yusuf, said the judge held that there was no special circumstances to stay proceeding.

Vazeer also ordered Gani and the other defendants to file their defence within 30 days.

He fixed case management on July 29.

Tan Sri Cecil Abraham appeared for the defendants.

On April 1, a three-member Court of Appeal bench, chaired by Datuk Abdul Hamid Sultan, dismissed the defendants' appeal to strike out the suit filed by  Rosli and Ramli.

Hamid said there was no reason to change the findings of the High Court.

"We have subjected the judgment through an acid test of reasonableness and there is no reason to disturb it," Hamid said of the unanimous ruling.

Ramli and  Rosli in November 2013 filed suits against Gani and several others for, among other things, alleged malicious prosecution over corruption charges.The courts have cleared them of the charges.

The defendants have filed a leave application in the Federal Court to appeal against the Court of Appeal ruling.

In a landmark ruling in April last year, Vazeer upheld Rmali and Rosli's suit, saying the Attorney-General, who holds public office, cannot escape suits when they involve allegations of abuse of power.

"I am afraid that the notion of absolute immunity for a public servant, even when mala fide or abuse of power in the exercise of their prosecutorial power is alleged, is anathema to modern day notions of accountability,” Vazeer said.

Both plaintiffs are now claiming damages to the tune of about RM176 million.

Gani and two others from the Attorney-General's Chambers then applied to strike out the suits on the grounds that they should be immune to such action in carrying out their prosecution powers.

Ramli, in his RM128.5 million suit, had also named former inspector-general of police Tan Sri Musa Hassan and 10 others for wrongfully bringing two charges against him.

Rosli, in his suit, is claiming more than RM47 million for conspiring to arrest and charge him in court over an alleged failure to declare his assets.

Rosli named Gani, Musa and Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission chief commissioner Tan Sri Abu Kassim Mohamed in their personal capacities.

The lawyer alleged that Gani had a role in the malicious prosecution.

Vazeer  in his ruling had also said he agreed that deliberate abuse of power by those holding public office was misfeasance.

"Such a torturous act can arise when an officer actuated by malice, for example, by personal spite or a desire to injure for improper reasons, abuses his power.

"This is in keeping with developments in modern jurisprudence that absolute immunity for public servants has no place in a progressive democratic society," he added. – The Malaysian Insider