KUALA LUMPUR: Lawyer Datuk Seri Gopal Sri Ram will continue to conduct the prosecution in corruption cases against several prominent individuals including former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
He confirmed today that newly-appointed Attorney-General Tan Sri Idrus Harun had told him to go ahead with the prosecution in the high-profile cases.
He said Idrus had contacted him via a phone call.
"This is nothing new. He (AG) called and inform me... I understand that to be the position," he said when met after Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor's graft trial here.
Sri Ram is the lead prosecutor in Najib's 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) trial, Najib and former 1MDB chief executive officer Arul Kanda Kandasamy's joint trial on the tampering of 1MDB audit report and the graft trial of Rosmah who is Najib's wife, which are ongoing.
Idrus, who was a Federal Court judge, was appointed as the new AG on Friday.
The 65-year-old replaced Tan Sri Tommy Thomas who stepped down after a 21-month old stint.
Thomas officially resigned as AG after he handed his resignation letter to former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad on Feb 28.
Meanwhile, Idrus when contacted confirmed that he had given Sri Ram the green light to continue prosecuting the cases.
He said this applied to counsel Datuk V. Sithambaram too, who is a prosecutor in Najib's corruption case involving funds from SRC International Sdn Bhd.
"It applies to Sithambaram as well as their respective prosecution teams to continue handling the prosecution of those cases," he said.
Idrus said he conveyed this to Sri Ram last Saturday.
