The GAR said the appointment was made by Putrajaya in consultation with the Delhi-based Asia Africa Legal Consultative Organisation (AALCO), which created the centre in 1979.

He will be starting the new role on Monday and will serve a two-year term with an option to renew for another two years.

The appointment comes after Sundra Rajoo’s withdrawal of a lawsuit against former attorney-general Tommy Thomas and 12 other parties over his alleged wrongful arrest and prosecution, which he said had ruined his reputation and cost him the role at AIAC.

He said part of the deal was to withdraw all claims against the defendants, adding the terms were confidential.

Sundra Rajoo was first appointed as director of the centre, then known as the Kuala Lumpur Regional Centre for Arbitration or KLRCA, in 2010.

His tenure ended in 2018 after he was arrested and charged with paying bribes to renew his role at the arbitration centre and misusing AIAC funds to distribute a book he had written.

He was charged on March 16, 2019, with three counts of criminal breach of trust (CBT) amounting to RM1.1 million, allegedly committed between Aug 17 and Dec 8, 2018.

Thomas was the attorney-general between June 2018 and February 2020.

Sundra Rajoo subsequently filed a judicial review in the High Court seeking a declaration that he was immune from prosecution for acts done within his official capacity.

He won his case in the High Court but the Court of Appeal overturned the decision. He then brought the matter to the Federal Court which ruled in his favour.

The charges against Sundra Rajoo were subsequently dropped after the Federal Court held that as the AIAC director, he was entitled to immunity from prosecution for acts committed while in office.