KUALA LUMPUR – The Judges’ Ethics Committee (JEC) has suspended Court of Appeal judge Datuk Hamid Sultan Abu Backer for six months, effectively ending his tenure on the bench.
According to Free Malaysia Today, Hamid Sultan is the first judge to be suspended since the JEC Act 2010 came into effect.
His lawyer, Wilson Joy Appukuttan, said the committee had informed them of the suspension taking effect from today until August 27, when he retires from office.
“The JEC chairman said it is satisfied that the complaints were proven and that Hamid Sultan is suspended from office from today until August 27,” Wilson was quoted as saying.
On January 21, Hamid Sultan failed in his application to challenge the committee’s decision to hold a closed-door inquiry against him.
In 2018, Hamid Sultan told an international conference here that there had been judicial interference in numerous high-profile cases.
Subsequently, lawyer Sangeet Kaur Deo, the daughter of the late DAP veteran, MP and lawyer Datuk Karpal Singh, had filed a suit against the then chief justice, Tan Sri Richard Malanjum, over the top judge’s alleged failure to defend and preserve the integrity of the judiciary.
This came after the chief justice was alleged to have failed to complete a probe into judicial interference in relation to Karpal’s sedition appeal and the conversion case of kindergarten teacher M. Indira Gandhi.
On February 19, 2019, police recorded a statement from Hamid Sultan over his 63-page affidavit containing allegations of judicial interference.
Hamid Sultan’s failure to challenge the closed-door inquiry follows a decision by high court judge Datuk Seri Mariana Yahya to allow the objection by the Attorney-General’s Chambers against his application for leave for judicial review. – The Vibes, February 4, 2021
