Goes against separation of powers, Anwar says on MACC's probe on judge

KUALA LUMPUR - Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim today said the judiciary has its own body to carry out check and balance over Court of Appeal Judge Datuk Mohd Nazlan Ghazali over alleged an unexplained RM1 million found in the latter’s bank account.

This comes after the Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission (MACC) said they are investigating the case.

“I would like to emphasise that the judiciary itself has a body that oversees and controls the integrity of judges and this is set to ensure that there is a clear division of powers in the existing system.

“Therefore, the MACC’s intervention violates this principle,” the PKR president said in a statement.

Anwar further said the judiciary system is on the right track after decades of confusion and stagnation without any serious government effort to rectify it. Such announcements might be considered as pressure or political interference, he added.

Yesterday, it was reported that Nazlan, the judge who delivered the guilty verdict in former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s SRC trial at the High Court in July 2020, was under investigation by the MACC over the contents of his bank account.

Nazlan was appointed to the position of Court of Appeal judge in February 2022.

After the High Court’s July 2020 decision that found Najib guilty over the misappropriation of SRC funds totalling RM42 million, the Court of Appeal’s three-judge panel on December 8, 2021 also unanimously upheld Najib’s conviction, fine and jail sentencing.

On April 22, Nazlan lodged a police report over false allegations made against him in a blog post after blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin on the blog Malaysia Today carried an article title “Judge Mohd Nazlan being investigated for unexplained RM1 million in his bank account”.

The Federal Court chief registrar's office said Nazlan had denied the “false, baseless and malicious allegations", adding the allegations were aimed at undermining his credibility as an appellate court judge as well as disrupting the administration of criminal justice and the judiciary.