Suspended senior judge withdraws appeals

 

A suspended Court of Appeal judge has withdrawn his appeals in his legal actions against the Judges Ethics Committee (JEC).

Lawyer Joy W Appukuttan today confirmed that Hamid Sultan Abu Backer (above) has withdrawn the appeals at the Court of Appeal.

“The appeals were withdrawn earlier since it is rendered nugatory as a result of the JEC’s decision on Feb 4,” the lawyer told Malaysiakini.

Joy acted for Hamid, who previously had filed legal actions linked to the JEC’s probe into the senior judge who is set to retire on Aug 27 this year.

On Feb 4, the committee made the decision to suspend Hamid, who previously raised allegations of judicial misconduct. The suspension order is until his retirement.

Previously, the veteran judge had filed two legal actions against the committee conducting the probe.

However, on Jan 21, the Kuala Lumpur High Court made rulings against both the legal bids. Hamid had then appealed to the Court of Appeal. 

On that date, the High Court allowed an application by the JEC and its chairperson to strike out Hamid’s originating summons.

The court had also denied leave for the senior judge to commence a related judicial review.

The interim court order for a stay against the committee’s proceedings against Hamid lapsed on that day.

The committee’s probe encompassed Hamid’s affidavit that contained allegations linked to past appeals involving opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim’s sodomy case and the late veteran lawyer Karpal Singh’s sedition case, among other things.

On Aug 16 last year, it was reported that Hamid had received a show-cause letter from the committee in relation to the affidavit, which raised several claims of judicial misconduct. 

Filed in February 2019, the affidavit prompted the then Pakatan Harapan government to mull a royal commission of inquiry.

However, the commission did not materialise as the Harapan government collapsed in late February last year.

Lawyer Sangeet Kaur Deo

Lawyer Sangeet Kaur Deo had relied on Hamid’s affidavit in her lawsuit against the chief justice over alleged judicial misconduct. However, the High Court in Kuala Lumpur dismissed her suit on Oct 22 last year. 

Legal action against two lawyers also withdrawn

Meanwhile, Joy added that his client has also withdrawn a related legal action against Sangeet and another lawyer, Mohamed Haniff Khatri Abdulla.

He said that the originating summons at the Kuala Lumpur High Court was retracted with no order as to costs.

Besides the JEC and its chairperson, Sangeet and Haniff were also listed as part of the defendants in Hamid’s originating summons.