SHAH ALAM - The government led by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim is advised to re-examine the involvement of Court of Appeal judge Datuk Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali in the establishment of SRC International Sdn Bhd in 2010.
This, Umno Supreme Council member Isham Jalil said was for the purpose of justice and to avoid persecution against the party’s former president Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
He said the government needed to review the facts which had caused injustice towards Najib in his trial involving the misappropriation of funds from SRC International.
He said previously Nazlan never revealed that he was the general counsel and company secretary for the Maybank Group from 2006 to 2015.
He added that Nazlan did not include any statement that Maybank was involved in the establishment of SRC International in 2010 when Maybank played a role in the company’s establishment.
"This gives basis to any rational party that Nazlan cannot make a judgement (on the case) objectively and with an open mind due to his involvement with Maybank, that was involved in the establishment of SRC International.
"Maybank had advised 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) to establish SRC International as a company specifically to acquire strategic assets.
"The fact that Nazlan was involved (with Maybank) meant that the judgement he handed down to Najib was biased,” he said in a Facebook post today.
Previously, it was reported that Anwar said the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) did not find any evidence of wrongdoing after thorough investigation against Nazlan.
Nazlan previously served as a Kuala Lumpur High Court judge and was the trial judge in Najib’s SRC International case.
He was alleged to have been in a conflict of interest while hearing the case and accused of violating the code of ethics.
On July 28, 2020, Nazlan convicted Najib of seven charges involving criminal breach of trust, abuse of power and money laundering involving RM42 million of funds belonging to SRC International.
Commenting further, Isham who is also Umno information chief stressed that although Nazlan's action not revealing his involvement with Maybank did not amount to a crime, it was likely that it violated the Judges' Code of Ethics.
He said this was a strong basis for retrial of the case against Najib before a new judge who was not biased to uphold the interest of justice.
"A tribunal should be established to investigate and take action on the matter based on Article 125 of the Federal Constitution on judges’ misconduct," he said.