KUALA LUMPUR – Former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak today failed in his attempt to remove former Federal Court judge Datuk Seri Gopal Sri Ram from leading the prosecution team in his ongoing trial over alleged tampering of a 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) audit report.
This was the third attempt by Najib to get Sri Ram recused from prosecuting in the 1MDB-linked criminal case. The first was filed in another 1MDB case before a different judge and the second was through civil proceedings.
High court judge Mohamed Zaini Mazlan, in dismissing the Pekan MP’s application, said the court found Najib’s claim that Sri Ram had been involved in the investigation against him unmeritorious.
"There is no cogent evidence to support the applicant’s allegation and it remains purely hypothetical. This issue has, in any event, been canvassed by the applicant’s application (Najib) in the previous applications highlighted by the prosecution as respondent. It is a moot point.
"It has been deliberated and decided. The decisions held by the other courts should remain and not be regurgitated again," said the judge.
Zaini said Najib had relied on the communications that took place between former attorney-general Tan Sri Mohamed Apandi Ali and Sri Ram as proof of the latter’s bias towards him and the applicant’s apprehension of Sri Ram’s bias was without basis and misplaced.
"Sri Ram, like any other person, is entitled to have his personal opinion. It remains just that. It would have been a different consideration if he had demonstrated his bias when carrying out his duty as a senior public prosecutor. His personal opinion cannot be taken to mean that it will impinge on his duties as a senior public prosecutor.
"The event nevertheless, as highlighted by the respondent, took place before Sri Ram was appointed senior public prosecutor. More pertinent is the fact that the applicant had not made any complaints over Sri Ram’s conduct in the trials involving the applicant. This lends credence to the respondent’s contention that Sri Ram had been above board in his conduct as a senior public prosecutor," he said.
Zaini said that it was ultimately the court’s duty to ensure that a trial is conducted fairly in the interest of justice.
"The court will ultimately come to the aid of any party that was treated unfairly, if it ever comes to that. The applicant’s application is, therefore, dismissed," he added.
The 1MDB audit report trial will resume on February 22.
At today’s proceeding, deputy public prosecutor Ahmad Akram Gharib prosecuted, while Nur Syahirah Hanapiah represented Najib.
Najib, 67, and former 1MDB chief executive officer Arul Kanda Kandasamy, 45, are on trial on 1MDB audit-tampering charges.
The Pekan MP is charged with using his position to order amendments to the 1MDB final audit report before it was presented to the Public Accounts Committee to avoid any action being taken against him, while Arul Kanda is charged with abetting Najib in making the amendments to the report to protect Najib from being subject to action. – Bernama, February 15, 2021
