Symbolic act: Apandi hitting the gong to launch the 17th Asean Senior Law Officials Meeting in Putrajaya. — Bernama
PUTRAJAYA: Malaysia is awaiting a reply from Singapore on its application to review the International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) ruling on Pulau Batu Puteh.
“They (Singapore officials) are supposed to reply on June 14. When they reply, we will respond accordingly,” said Attorney-General Tan Sri Mohamed Apandi Ali after launching the 17th Asean Senior Law Officials Meeting (Aslom).
Apandi, who is heading a team of legal experts in representing Malaysia in the case, expressed his satisfaction over the case’s progress.
“It is going well. I have five researchers currently in London and they are doing work every day.
“There are thousands of documents that they need to go through,” he said.
This year, Malaysia applied to revise the ICJ’s ruling that granted Pulau Batu Puteh to Singapore following the discovery of “new important facts”.
On May 23, 2008, the ICJ ruled that Singapore had sovereignty over Pulau Batu Puteh, which is 7.7 nautical miles from Pantai Tanjung Penyusuh, Johor.
Apandi said Malaysia found evidence among some 3,000 documents, which were declassified by the British government in 2013, that could help the country’s case.
On another matter, he said the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission’s (MACC) probe into the money flow of SRC International should be completed in about a month’s time.
Apandi said he did not order the investigations into SRC International, which is a subsidiary of 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB), to stop.
He clarified that the term “NFA” or “no further action” used on the case did not mean that it had been closed permanently.
“NFA is a normal terminology by the prosecution to show there is no further action at the material time.
“The files are never closed. If there are new evidences or new developments later on, we can reopen the investigations.
“Not necessarily on 1MDB only, but also on any case,” he added.
