Ex-chief judge Zaki Azmi appointed CJ of Dubai financial courts

Zaki Azmi was Malaysia’s chief justice from 2008 to 2011. (Bernama pic)

KUALA LUMPUR: Former chief justice Zaki Azmi has been appointed chief justice of the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) Courts.

According to a statement from the media office of the government of Dubai, his appointment by ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum takes effect on Nov 14.

Zaki, 73, joined the DIFC Courts in December 2013, about two years after retiring as Malaysia’s chief justice.

The DIFC Courts deal with civil and commercial disputes in Dubai, one of the world’s leading financial centres. These include disputes ranging from sophisticated international financial transactions to debt collection and employment.

Zaki, who is in Dubai, told Bernama the appointment came as a “total surprise”.

“Alhamdulillah, I have become chief justice twice,” he said in a WhatsApp message.

This is the latest of his notable achievements throughout his career.

In September 2007, from a practising lawyer, he was directly appointed as a Federal Court judge, the first such appointment in Malaysian judicial history.

Two months later, he was appointed as president of the Court of Appeal before becoming chief justice in October 2008, a post he held until his retirement in September 2011.

Zaki’s appointment as chief justice also marked the first time in world history that a father and son had headed a nation’s judiciary.

His father, the late Azmi Mohamed, was chief justice – a position then known as lord president of the Federal Court – from 1968 to 1974. - FMT