[UPDATED] Apex court rejects Najib’s bid to recuse top judge from hearing final SRC appeal

PUTRAJAYA – The Federal Court has unanimously dismissed Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s application to recuse chief justice Tun Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat from hearing his final appeal against his conviction in the SRC International Sdn Bhd corruption case.

Reading the judgement, Tengku Maimun said Najib’s affidavit had not met the threshold to test the danger of bias for her to hear the final appeal hearing.

Najib’s lead counsel Hisyam Teh Poh Teik had earlier filed an application to recuse the chief justice on grounds of bias based on a Facebook post allegedly made by her husband, Datuk Zamani Ibrahim in 2018, which the former prime minister claimed disparaged him.

The Pekan MP’s affidavit also stated his concern that Tengku Maimun had not objected to members of the Malaysian Bar applying for adjournments so as to attend the fraternity’s Walk for Justice on June 19 this year. 

In the court’s written decision rejecting the recusal, the panel said Zamani’s Facebook post was made four years ago when Najib’s case had not even been brought to court.

“Simply put there is absolutely no nexus between the Facebook post and the present appeals,” the court said.

It cited three cases, one in Australia and two in the United Kingdom, to show that “the fact of a ‘spousal relationship’ is not by itself a reason to ascribe the spouse’s views to the judge”.

The bench also considered Najib’s contention about the Malaysian Bar’s Walk for Justice as a “non-starter”, as Tengku Maimun’s non-objection for lawyers to apply for adjournments to attend the march was a standard letter granting different judges discretion to grant or refuse adjournments.

Hisyam sprang the recusal bid this morning when the court resumed after a three-day break, furnishing an affidavit by Najib in which the former prime minister threw doubt on Tengku Maimun’s impartiality.

Over the past week, since Najib’s final appeal hearing began on August 15, Tengku Maimun has come under attack on social media from supposedly Najib’s supporters and Umno supporters, following the apex bench’s decision not to grant the hearing an adjournment, after the defence claimed they had no time prepare submissions since taking on the case three weeks prior.

The court also rejected Hisyam’s bid to discharge himself after he refused to give oral submissions citing a lack of time.

The court had also refused the defence’s application to adduce new evidence in the final appeal hearing regarding high court judge Datuk Nazlan Mohd Ghazali, who found Najib guilty in the SRC case in July 2020.

An online campaign to question Tengku Maimum’s impartiality was launched using an old Facebook post by her husband Zamani in May 2018 where he writes about Najib being “dethroned” in the general election that year.  – The Vibes, August 23, 2022