KUALA LUMPUR – The Federal Court registrar has filed a police report against two news portals regarding articles implicating an appellate court judge in the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) and SRC International Sdn Bhd scandals.
In a statement issued this evening, the court’s chief registrar stated that contents of the reports carried by MalaysiaNow and Malaysia Today are believed to have threatened the administration of criminal justice and the country’s judicial institution.
“As such, a police report was lodged by the office so that investigations can be carried out under Section 223 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998, and Section 499 of the Penal Code, as well as other relevant provisions under the law.”
The chief registrar was referring to MalaysiaNow’s article titled “Group calling for Najib’s pardon now want judge Nazlan arrested”, and the report by Malaysia Today with the headline “Shocking Revelation: Najib’s Trial Judge Nazlan's Conflict-of-Interest Exposed”, both dated March 14, 2022.
On Tuesday, Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s lead counsel claimed the seven charges against the former prime minister in relation to 1MDB’s subsidiary, SRC International Sdn Bhd, could be quashed following then high court judge Datuk Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali’s purported failure to disclose his role in his previous job in 2012 as Maybank’s company secretary and group general counsel.
Lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah said his team will be submitting an application for a retrial as soon as possible, pending approval by the Federal Court.
“This is because he is the primary judge (in the SRC case). This trial has gone on for so many days and how much energy and money have been wasted.
“This is a blind judiciary. We’ll say the entire charges will have to be quashed. But these are alternatives.
“Whether it is significant or not, the court will determine,” he said.
Nazlan was the presiding judge in Najib’s SRC trial at the Kuala Lumpur High Court that commenced in April 2019 and delivered the guilty verdict in July 2020.
He was also the judge who convicted and sentenced the Pekan MP on charges relating to funds belonging to SRC International in July 2020.
An appeal against the conviction is pending before the Federal Court. – The Vibes, March 16, 2022
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