The dark clouds which had been lowering over the DPP’s future seem to be moving in a different direction. And it looks as if the tempest will actually hit somewhere away from his office. Who will be scapegoated for the gaffes which seem to be backfiring is not clear. What is clear, however, is that the DPP’s affidavit, sworn in court on Tuesday, marks a new turn in an ugly saga which started with press leaks, continued with press communiqués and now a court injunction.

The DPP’s statements in his injunction application raise extremely worrying questions, some terribly disquietingand threaten the very foundation of our democracy. As Judge Ah Foon Chui Yew Cheong wades through the complexities of the Sun Tan case, one should not lose sight of the real debate. This is not about anyone being above the law. If the DPP is guilty of conflict of interest, we will be the first ones to call for his destitution.

But this is not the debate. The real debate is about questions which sprang into the public mind as soon as this whole saga started and which the DPP’s affidavit, to a large extent, provides answers to.

The first of these questions is why now – four years after the DPP attended the meeting in question? According to his affidavit, the answer is clear: “The conduct of any such investigation is calculated to oust me from office”. He adds that “the decision to refer and the decision to open an enquiry were made for improper and oblique motives and not because there is a proper basis for them”. He later refers to three cases in which Pravind Jugnauth, Showkutally Soodhun and Prakash Manthrooa are involved. (see our cover story in Weekly this week).

But the most worrying aspect of this nasty episode is the conversation the DPP, according to his affidavit, had with the director of the Corruption Investigation Division of the ICAC where the latter concedes that there is “nothing incriminating against me in the light of his preliminary investigation and that the [ICAC] was under tremendous pressure” from what he believes are “Vice-Prime Minister Soodhun and Minister Bhadain to proceed with further investigations”!

We have in the past rung the alarm bells about ministers taking over institutions and substituting themselves for all the arms of the law. Sometimes one wonders if we are not better off closing our courts of law and having a couple of ministers investigate all the cases their opponents are involved in, go to all corners of the world seeking evidence and pronounce a verdict which is announced on the MBC in the evening! Ring a bell?

None of this bodes well for our justice system. None of this bodes well for our institutions. None of this bodes well for our country. If two ministers turn out to be responsible for creating the worst crisis we have ever had at the highest level of the judiciary; if an opponent can be targeted and investigations are cooked to order; if it turns out that a retired respected judge, still reeling from the euphoria of his nomination, sees threatening the DPP as a befitting way of thanking those in power for having made his retirement less boring; if under the guise of a cleaning campaign gone haywire, we are all reduced to fear because anything can be pulled out against us anytime; if this can happen to one of the highest figures in the judiciary, what chance do mere mortals like you and me stand if the powers that be decide we disturb in some way? Who is next? Very distressing questions indeed!