KUALA LUMPUR – The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) has submitted a report on Judge Datuk Mohd Nazlan Ghazali to the Chief Justice regarding violations under the Judges’ Code of Ethics 2009, said law and institutional reforms minister Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said.
The minister in the Prime Minister’s Department told the Dewan Rakyat that MACC submitted this report to the Chief Justice on February 21.
Azalina (Pengerang-BN) said she was also informed of the matter on the same date.
“(The report) against judge Nazlan was submitted to the honorable Chief Justice in relation to violations of rules under the Judges’ Code of Ethics 2009,” she said when winding up debates on the royal address.
She added that MACC provided no other information to her regarding Nazlan, who in July 2020 as a high court judge had found former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak guilty of several corruption charges involving former SRC International Sdn Bhd, a former subsidiary of 1Malaysia Development Bhd.
“This matter is also subject to the decision of the Chief Justice in accordance with Clauses 3 and 3A of Article 125 of the federal constitution,” Azalina added, referring to provisions on action that can be taken against a judge who has breached the judicial code of ethics.
Azalina then said that the attorney-general also has discretionary powers to initiate proceedings for offences against person, including judges, if there is sufficient evidence.
“The government will not interfere with the power of the attorney-general/public prosecutor,” the minister added.
Nazlan, now a Court of Appeal judge, had before his appointment to the judiciary been general counsel for Maybank, a role which Najib’s defence lawyers have said would have exposed him to knowledge about SRC International, thus posing a conflict of interest in his role as judge presiding over the case.
Last year, MACC began an investigation into Nazlan following allegations posted in the Malaysia Today blog that the judge had received an unexplained RM1 million in his account from fugitive businessman and 1MDB scandal mastermind, Low Taek Jho.
Nazlan lodged a police report to counter the blog’s claims.
Last August, Najib’s defence tried but failed to adduce new evidence regarding Nazlan’s conflict of interest at the former prime minister’s final in the Federal Court against his conviction and sentence in the SRC International case. – The Vibes, February 23, 2023
