PUTRAJAYA – The Federal Court here today was told that Chief Justice Tun Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat should have stepped down from chairing the appeal involving Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s SRC International Sdn Bhd case, as she allegedly has a conflict of interest due to her husband’s Facebook (FB) post five years ago.
The former premier’s counsel Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah said this was because the top judge’s husband had blamed Najib in 2018 for the downfall of 1Malaysia Development Bhd and its former subsidiary SRC International.
“Her husband Datuk Zamani Ibrahim’s (posted) severe criticism of Najib in 2018 as soon as the election results came out. It was almost a celebration in FB.
“The matter (FB post) was brought up on August 23 last year before the apex court. The CJ should have not heard and decided its own motion of recusal of herself. We invited the CJ to step down because she has conflict of interest in the virtue (sic) of her husband’s FB post,” he said.
Shafee said information sharing between husband and wife may occur and should be considered in a serious manner.
“Very often an average husband and wife would share their opinion,” he said, adding that there was quorum failure as it was untenable for justice Tengku Maimun to hear the appeal when her husband was critical of Najib in the social media post.
Apart from that, Shafee also stressed that the top judge failed to consider any of the 94 grounds of appeal raised by Najib in his appeal last year.
“Najib’s ex-counsel Datuk Hisyam Teh Poh Teik did not give himself an opportunity to submit on the 94 grounds of the appeal. In fact, Hisyam was not refused to submit but he was not ready to do so … he requested for adjournment as he needed more time to prepare but the court did not allow it. He then wanted to discharge himself but the court forced him to remain to act for Najib,” he said.
Shafee said this at the hearing of Najib’s application to review the previous Federal Court ruling in upholding his conviction and 12 years’ jail sentence and RM210-million fine for the misappropriation of RM42 million of SRC International funds.
Shafee submitted this before Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Datuk Abdul Rahman Sebli, who chaired a five-member panel which included Federal Court judges Datuk Vernon Ong Lam Kiat, Datuk Rhodzariah Bujang and Datuk Nordin Hassan, and Court of Appeal judge Datuk Abu Bakar Jais.
Najib, in his review application, is seeking to overturn the decision made by a five-member bench of the Federal Court led by justice Tengku Maimun on August 23 last year in upholding his conviction and 12-year jail sentence and fine.
Shafee is scheduled to wrap up his submissions tomorrow and ad hoc prosecutor Datuk V. Sithambaram will begin his argument. – Bernama, February 21, 2023
