Two senior prosecutors opt for retirement

By : V. Anbalagan
New Straits Times


Sallehuddin Saidin handled several high-profile cases as deputy public prosecutor (left). Datuk Yusof Zainal Abiden will join the Securities Commission.

After more than a month of speculation, it is confirmed that two senior prosecuting officers are going on optional retirement.

They are the Attorney-General’s Chambers prosecution head Datuk Yusof Zainal Abiden and deputy public prosecutor Sallehuddin Saidin who is in charge of high-profile cases.

Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail said the two had sent in their applications for retirement late last month.

"I have allowed their applications because they want to move on to greener pastures.

"It is not fair to stop their career advancement elsewhere," he said yesterday.
Gani said there were sufficient experienced staff in his office to fill the vacuum left by the two men.

Both men are now on leave prior to retirement.

It is learnt that Yusof, 52, will join the Securities Commission while Sallehuddin, 44, will go into private practice.

Yusof, a law graduate from Universiti Malaya, joined the Judicial and Legal Service in 1981 and was posted as magistrate in Malacca. He was appointed to his present position in 2002.

Sallehuddin joined the service in 1987 and was posted to the office of the Selangor Legal Adviser and then to the State Syariah Unit. Among the cases Sallehuddin had handled as DPP was the Canny Ong, Tengku Teh and Bakaruddin Busu criminal trials.

Salehuddin led the prosecution team in the Altantuya Shaariibuu murder trial in the earlier phase of the case.

However, when the trial began in June, the prosecution team was replaced by one led by deputy public prosecutor Tun Abd Majid Tun Hamzah.

Yusof and Sallehuddin could not be reached for comment.