©The Star (Used by permission)
by DINA MURAD
PETALING JAYA: Former Attorney–General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail (pix) has officially retired from the Judicial and Legal Service, a day before reaching his 60th birthday, which is the mandatory retirement age for civil servants.
According to a source Monday, Abdul Gani forgoed the ceremonial “last punch–out” that retiring civil servants would traditionally participate in.
This was due to Abdul Gani being on leave since July 27. According to the source, there are no plans to hold any official ceremony for Abdul Gani's retirement .
Abdul Gani served as the A–G for 13 years from January 2002 but his tenure was abruptly terminated on July 27.
Previous reports quoting a statement by Chief Secretary to the Government Tan Sri Dr Ali Hamsa said that Abdul Gani's removal was due to health reasons. At the time, Abdul Gani appeared surprised by the announcement.
However, Abdul Gani continued to officially serve as Judicial and Legal Service Officer until retirement.
After his replacement as A–G by former Federal Court judge Tan Sri Mohamed Apandi Ali, Abdul Gani remained out of the public eye.
Abdul Gani formerly headed the now–disbanded multi–agency Special Task Force investigating the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) money trail.
Among Abdul's Gani's high profile cases was being the lead prosecutor in former deputy prime minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's 1998 sodomy trial.
Abdul Gani began his career on April 15, 1980 as a deputy public prosecutor in Kota Kinabalu and after five years, was appointed Senior Federal Counsel for Sabah in 1985.
He was then appointed as head of the prosecution division of the Attorney–General’s Chambers on Jan 16, 1994.