Describing the formation of the committee as “highly irregular”, SN Nair said it could also be unlawful and unconstitutional.
He said it deviated from the provisions of the Federal Constitution and Public Officers (Conduct and Discipline) 2002, better known as the General Orders.
“The committee should, therefore, be disbanded immediately,” he told FMT in response to the selection of Attorney-General Idrus Harun to chair the committee.
Nair said Idrus, being the highest law officer of the land, should know better.
In a statement, Chief Secretary Zuki Ali had said the others on the committee would be Inspector-General of Police Acryl Sani Abdullah Sani, Auditor-General Nik Azman Nik Abdul Majid and Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission head Azam Baki.
Zuki said the committee had been tasked with conducting a thorough investigation into the allegations to ensure justice was served.
He said the outcome and recommendations of the investigation would be presented to the prime minister for further consideration.
Nair claimed the setting up of the committee “from thin air” was an “explicit violation of the constitutional provisions which, therefore, clearly reeks of conspiracy to prejudice Shafiq”.
Unless proper procedures under the existing law were fully applied and adhered to, he said, the government would be open to legal and other proceedings.
He said this could be seen as not acting fairly against a senior civil servant and denying him his legal and constitutional rights with impunity.
Nair said the General Orders procedures demanded that in the initiation of any action, the aggrieved person must make a formal complaint in writing to his head of department, who must then forward it to the chief secretary as he is higher than the head of JPA.
“Clearly, this has not been done, which is an explicit and unacceptable deviation.
“More so, the government’s action is based on a third-party hearsay immigration body’s press release,” he said. “This is shocking and wholly-irregular.”
He said the ad hoc committee had no legal authority since proper procedures had not been adhered to.
Last Wednesday, the Immigration Services Union of Peninsular Malaysia had demanded a public apology from Shafiq for allegedly berating the immigration officer, identified as James Lee, at the KLIA VIP lounge.
However, JPA denied that Shafiq had publicly berated the officer, saying he had “rightly reprimanded” him for not complying with SOPs after he failed to check Shafiq and his delegation’s travel documents and passports.
When reports of the incident first broke, home minister Hamzah Zainudin said he had instructed immigration director-general Khairul Dzaimee Daud to investigate the allegations.