Najib fails bid to recuse COA judge from hearing his review application

PUTRAJAYA - Former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak has failed in his bid to recuse Court of Appeal judge Datuk Abu Bakar Jais from sitting as a panel to hear his review application over his conviction and sentence of the SRC International Sdn Bhd case.

Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Datuk Abdul Rahman Sebli rejected the application for recusal made by Najib's lead counsel Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah at the onset of the hearing of the review application, today.

Abdul Rahman said the court was not persuaded with Shafee's argument to recuse Abu Bakar.

The judge said Abu Bakar was named as a panel validly by Chief Justice Tun Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat to hear the former Pekan MP's review application.

"In our view, the law is clear that the Chief Justice is vested with discretionary power to empanel the Court of Appeal judge (Abu Bakar) to sit at the panel of the Federal Court, pursuant to Article 122 (2) of the Federal Constitution," he said.

Besides Abdul Rahman and Abu Bakar, Federal Court judges Datuk Vernon Ong Lam Kiat, Datuk Rhodzariah Bujang and Datuk Nordin Hassan presided.

Abdul Rahman said the court rejected Shafee's argument that Abu Bakar should not be involved in the hearing of the review application.

The proceeding was then continued with Shafee submitting on the review application.

Earlier, at the onset of the proceeding, Shafee raised an objection against Abu Bakar sitting as a panel in his client's case.

Shafee made the objection as Abu Bakar was a Court of Appeal judge.

However, deputy public prosecutor Datuk V. Sithambaram said Najib as the applicant must show proof that there was danger of bias if Abu Bakar sat as a panel.

On Aug 23, last year, the Federal Court maintained Najib's 12-year jail sentence and RM210 million fine over the misappropriation of RM42 million of funds belonging to SRC International.

The panel of five judges chaired by Tengku Maimun made the decision after finding that Najib's defence was not consistent and failed to raise a reasonable doubt.

Also presiding were Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Tan Sri Abang Iskandar Abang Hashim who recently sworn in as Court of Appeal President, Federal Court judges Datuk Nallini Pathmanathan, Datuk Mary Lim Thiam Suan and Datuk Mohamad Zabidin Diah.

Najib was ordered to serve his jail sentence at the Kajang Prison on the same day.

On Sept 6, the same year, Najib, 70, filed a review of the decision on the grounds that his right to a fair trial as stated under the Federal Constitution was denied.

The Umno leader was now seeking for the top court to review the decision of the five-member panel and an order that the decision of his main appeal to be set aside.

Najib is also seeking for a review of the Federal Court's decision which rejected his application to include new evidence related to trial judge Datuk Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali who was now a Court of Appeal judge and to nullify his trial.

His application also involved a review of the court's decision rejecting his bid to postpone his appeal hearing and for Tengku Maimun to recuse herself from hearing his final appeal.

Besides that, Najib has also filed a petition before the United Nations Human Rights Council Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (UNWGAD) seeking for his release or a retrial following the the Federal Court appeal hearing which he claimed had serious defects and was contrary to the rules of international justice.