KUALA LUMPUR: Former Attorney-General Tan Sri Mohamed Apandi Ali is now free to leave the country after the government withdrew the travel ban imposed on him last May 8.
His lawyer, M. Visvanathan, said Mohamed Apandi also withdrew his application for leave for a judicial review against the decision by the Immigration Department in imposing the ban for him to travel abroad.
He said the application was withdrawn following a letter, dated last May 8, issued by the Immigration Department to Mohamed Apandi on the withdrawal of the travel ban.
“As such, there is no more restriction for my client to go overseas. On behalf of my client, I thank the Pakatan Harapan government, being that it is the right of every Malaysians to travel overseas for as long as the person concerned is not charged in court and is not convicted of any criminal charges,“ he told reporters after the court proceeding which was held in chambers before High Court judge Datuk Seri Mariana Yahya.
He said there was no order to cost made by the court on the withdrawal of the leave application by his client.
According to Visvanathan, the court had fixed today to hear his client’s leave application for the judicial review.
Meanwhile, federal counsel Istisyhad Ismail, acting on behalf of Immigration Department director, Home Minister and the Malaysian government, who were named the respondents, confirmed that the Immigration Department had withdrawn the travel ban on the former attorney-general through a letter dated last May 8.
Mohamed Apandi filed the leave application last month to obtain a certiorari order to quash the travel ban that barred him from renewing his passport.
He also sought a declaration that all the respondents had no jurisdiction to bar him from leaving the country and sought a court order to restrain the respondents from blacklisting him from leaving and entering the country.
He also sought a declaration that the travel ban against him violated Article 5(1), Article 8 and Article 9 of the Federal Constitution, and was therefore unconstitutional, null and void.
In his supporting affidavit, Apandi said he went to the Immigration Department at Jalan Dutamas on Feb 22 to renew his passport for his travel to the United Kingdom this July to visit his son who was studying law there.
He claimed that while at the department, he was informed verbally by an officer that he could not apply or renew his passport and was not given any explanation on the matter. — Bernama
