KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysia’s apex court on Thursday rejected former premier Najib Razak’s bid to recuse a Court of Appeal judge from a panel that is reviewing his jailing on a corruption charge related to 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).
The unanimous ruling by the federal court in allowing Justice Abu Bakar Jais to be part of the five-member panel was read out by Justice Abdul Rahman Sebli, who chaired the panel.
He said: “We are not persuaded that Abu Bakar Jais should recuse himself from hearing this review application. The law is clear that the Chief Justice is vested with the discretionary power to enable a Court of Appeal judge to sit in the federal court (panel) in the interest of justice pursuant to Article 122(2) of the Federal Constitution.”
The court ordered the defence to proceed with its application to review Najib’s guilty verdict and imprisonment.
Najib’s lead counsel Shafee Abdullah had argued that the panel must consist of all federal court judges, based on Section 74 of the Courts of Judicature Act (CJA) 1974.
“This is nothing personal,” he said on Thursday, adding that he has known Justice Abu since their early days.
In response, lead prosecutor V. Sithambaram said the objection against the judge must show a real danger of bias. He also noted that the panel has always been determined by the Chief Justice.
Citing Article 122 of the Federal Constitution, he said lawyers “cannot tell the court how they come up with the panel, that’s contemptuous”.
The hearing continues on Feb 20.
Najib is seeking a review of the federal court’s decision that affirmed his conviction and sentence over the misappropriation of RM42 million (S$12.9 million) from SRC International, a former 1MDB subsidiary, claiming that he was not given a fair hearing.
He has been serving a 12-year jail sentence since a five-man federal court bench led by Chief Justice Tun Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat dismissed his appeal on Aug 23, 2022.
Najib is also bidding for a review of the court’s decision to dismiss his attempt to postpone his appeal hearing, as well as its decision not to recuse Chief Justice Tun Tengku Maimun from the federal court appeal due to Facebook posts made by her husband in May 2018. The latter had allegedly demonstrated negative views of Najib’s leadership and had concluded that he had siphoned funds from 1MDB into his personal bank account.
In addition, Najib is attempting to nullify his hearing in the High Court on the basis of trial judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali not recusing himself over an alleged conflict of interest.
On Jan 4, Najib petitioned the United Nations Human Rights Council Working Group on Arbitrary Detention to rule that the dismissal of his appeal by the federal court in August 2022 was unjust and flawed, as he “was sent to jail without the opportunity to defend himself”.
His legal team had said that a failure to give a new set of lawyers more time to prepare – after being appointed three weeks before the appeal in the federal court – had unjustly punished Najib.
