Former Federal Court judge Gopal Sri Ram remains part of the prosecution in former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak’s 1MDB-linked cases.
The Court of Appeal today unanimously dismissed Najib’s appeal to disqualify Sri Ram from acting as ad-hoc DPP in the former premier’s 1MDB-linked criminal trials.
Sri Ram is the lead DPP in several 1MDB-linked trials against Najib pending before the Kuala Lumpur High Court, such as the 1MDB audit report amendment case and the RM2.28 billion 1MDB corruption case.
Najib today is appealing against the Kuala Lumpur High Court decision on Feb 15, which dismissed his application to disqualify Sri Ram from prosecuting the former’s 1MDB-linked cases.
The former premier previously filed multiple unsuccessful bids at separate courts to recuse Sri Ram from prosecuting in the 1MDB-linked criminal cases.
Among the legal bids was the one on Aug 28 last year, where the Kuala Lumpur High Court dismissed Najib's judicial review application that sought to disqualify Sri Ram from prosecuting in these trials. Sri Ram is currently a lawyer involved in private practice.
Today’s three-person Court of Appeal bench was chaired by judge Yaacob Md Sam. The other members are judges Abu Bakar Jais and Che Mohd Ruzima Ghazali.
The bench delivered its verdict after hearing submissions from Najib’s lead defence counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah and Sri Ram earlier today.
Among the contention by Najib’s legal team was that Sri Ram was biased and in conflict of interest when acting as DPP against the former premier.
They cited, among others, an alleged meeting between Sri Ram and then attorney-general Mohamed Apandi Ali in January 2018.
In a Facebook post last year, Apandi claimed that Sri Ram approached him at his house in January 2018, supposedly under the instruction of former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
Apandi, who himself used to be a Federal Court judge, claimed that Sri Ram tried to coax him to play a role to arrest then sitting prime minister Najib.
Najib’s legal team also contended that Sri Ram’s appointment as DPP by then attorney-general Tommy Thomas was invalid, claiming that the Aug 30, 2018 letter of appointment not only appointed Sri Ram as DPP but also wrongly empowered him with investigative powers.
During the Court of Appeal proceedings conducted online this afternoon, Yaacob ruled that the High Court had made a proper decision when dismissing Najib’s disqualification application.
“We are of the view that there is no appealable error by the High Court judge in dismissing the appellant's (Najib) application.
“There is no merit in this appeal. We dismiss this appeal and the order of the High Court is upheld,” Yaacob said.
The High Court judge who dismissed Najib’s disqualification application is Mohamed Zaini Mazlan.
Zaini is also presiding over the trial of the 1MDB audit report amendment case against Najib and the sovereign wealth fund’s former CEO Arul Kanda Kandasamy.
In the ongoing 1MDB audit report trial, Najib is charged with using his position to order amendments to the sovereign wealth fund's final audit report before it was presented to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), in order to prevent any action against him.
Co-accused Arul Kanda was charged with abetting Najib in making the amendments.
The charges are framed under Section 23 (1) of the MACC Act 2009, which specifies a jail term of up to 20 years and a fine of no less than five times the amount of gratification or RM10,000, whichever is higher, upon conviction.
The 1MDB audit report trial will resume on Sept 27. - Mkini
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