KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 11): The Cabinet has agreed to the formation of a Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) that will provide a holistic view on the revelations made by former attorney general Tan Sri Tommy Thomas in his book My Story: Justice in the Wilderness.

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said said the formation of the RCI follows the tabling of the task force report into allegations made in the book.

“After looking into the proposals made by the special task force chaired by (former Sarawak AG) Datuk Seri Fong Joo Chung in his report, the Cabinet has proposed to the formation of an RCI and has agreed on its formation, among others, to study the matter raised by the task force holistically,” Azalina said in a statement.

“The formation of the RCI is in line with the Commission of Enquiry Act 1050 and this is under the purview of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong,” she added.

The government views the allegations made involving the professional violation of a senior government post seriously, said Azalina, because transparency and accountability are the basis of the people’s trust in the administration of justice and government institutions.

“Hence the terms of commission for the RCI would have a greater scope and would not be limited to the proposals made by the task force.

“The purpose of the RCI is to determine the truth and to give proposals to the government on reforming the country’s legal institution and not to find fault with any party. The detailed terms of commission, members of the RCI, along with the duration of the RCI would be proposed or announced later by the government,” Azalina added.

Last October, then prime minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said Thomas was believed to have committed four offences, based on investigations into the contents of the former AG's memoir My Story: Justice In the Wilderness.

Ismail Sabri said the offences relate to the Penal Code, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act and the Official Secrets Act (OSA). “We will leave this to the relevant authorities: if it is [an] MACC case, the MACC will investigate, if it is under the Penal Code, the police will investigate,” he told the press at the time.

The report by the special task force that looked into Thomas’ memoir had been declassified and made available on the website of the legal affairs division of the Prime Minister’s Department, Ismail Sabri said.

Police, meanwhile, said at the time that they were in the midst of investigating the claims made in the book and had indicated that they were about to complete the probe.

Thomas, meanwhile, is suing the task force and case management of the matter has been fixed for Thursday (Jan 12) before High Court judge Datuk Wan Ahmad Farid Wan Salleh.

The government has indicated that it would file an application to strike out the suit.