Apandi said he had, in fact, met Michael Lauber twice in Switzerland, over the issue.

“I recall that in my written reply to Switzerland, as the AG then, that since the Malaysian investigation was still ongoing, to accede to the Swiss request could prejudice the criminal matter in Malaysia,” he told FMT.

Earlier today, Malaysiakini quoted Lauber as saying that Apandi had refused to cooperate with him when the latter was heading the Attorney-General’s Chambers.

The report said Switzerland’s Office of the Attorney General (OAG) had requested for mutual legal assistance from Malaysia on two occasions, but received no response in return.

“Since 2015, (we have been) conducting our investigations in Switzerland and from the beginning, we tried to cooperate very closely together with the United States, Singapore, Luxembourg.

“And we also tried (to cooperate) with Malaysia, but at that time, in 2016, we got confirmation that the Malaysian attorney-general that time didn’t want to cooperate with us,” the portal quoted him as saying.

Apandi was appointed in July 2015, succeeding Abdul Gani Patail, who was sacked.

Apandi said he was unable to agree to the request for mutual legal assistance as he was following the provisions of Section 20(1)(l) of the Mutual Assistance In Criminal Matters Act 2002 (Act 621).

“I was just abiding by the laws that govern such cooperation in mutual legal assistance.

“To say that I am or was uncooperative is obviously unfair and uncalled for, particularly when such a remark is made when I am no longer the AG of Malaysia.”

Last month, lawyer Tommy Thomas was named as the new AG, replacing Apandi.