Edmund Terence Gomez recalled that graft charges against Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Harapan leaders were dropped when the coalitions held power.
He questioned whether DAP Youth chief Dr Kelvin Yii would maintain that a person was innocent until proven guilty if someone facing corruption charges becomes prime minister.
Yii had said earlier that people should assume innocence in a person until a court had proven otherwise. He was responding to a statement by the Center to Combat Corruption and Cronyism that politicians facing corruption charges sit out the general election.
Among politicians facing graft charges are DAP chairman Lim Guan Eng, Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and Muda president Syed Sadiq Abdul Rahman. They are seeking re-election in the parliamentary seats of Bagan, Bagan Datuk and Muar respectively.
Gomez said there was a strong possibility that a prime minister facing graft charges would wield his power to get the cases dropped.
He gave the warning in light of a statement made by then law minister Azalina Othman Said in August that anyone becoming prime minister would usually appoint “one of his own” to the post of attorney-general.
Azalina’s remark drew brickbats, including from Yii’s party colleague Ngeh Koo Kam, who argued it could lead to abuse of power, Gomez noted.
Gomez, who last year resigned as a member of a Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission panel, said: “Confronted as Malaysians are with this serious problem of how the AG is appointed, is Yii still of the view that those facing corruption charges should be allowed to contest in this election?”
He said politicians like Lim, Zahid and Syed Saddiq should clear their names before standing for election.
Lim has said he would leave it to voters to decide his fate. The former Penang chief minister is accused of corruption in connection with an undersea tunnel project.
Gomez said politicians should stop “this nonsense” of quoting the “innocent till proven guilty” maxim, claiming that history had shown it to be untrue.
“Until there is structural reform that would see the AG being independently appointed, we should stop hiding behind it.”