Najib Abdul Razak’s legal team will get an opportunity on Aug 20 to present oral submissions for an appellate court order to recuse judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah from presiding over the former prime minister’s ongoing RM2.27 billion 1MDB corruption trial.
The Court of Appeal this morning fixed that date for the hearing of Najib’s appeal against the Kuala Lumpur High Court’s rejection of his recusal bid.
Najib seeks a new judge to hear the case because Sequerah was partners with 1MDB-linked former fugitive Jasmine Loo in a law firm 15 years ago.
Loo is a key prosecution witness in the corruption trial.
The appellant’s counsel Muhammad Farhan Muhammad Shafee confirmed that the court set the date for Aug 20.
The lawyer added that the Court of Appeal also gave directions for the defence and prosecution teams to file their written submissions by Aug 5, and that the matter is set for further case management on Aug 6.
On Aug 18 last year, before the Kuala Lumpur High Court, Sequerah dismissed Najib’s application for him to withdraw from the 1MDB case and have a new judge preside over the trial.
Sequerah ruled that mere past employment is not enough to show a real danger of bias, as there was no contact between him and Loo since she left the law firm Zain & Co in 2008.
He left the firm in 2014 when he was elevated to the bench.
The judge pointed out that there has been no communication - personal or professional - between him and Loo since 2008.
Loo was engaged as general counsel with 1MDB in 2011.
“On Loo’s involvement in the case, it commenced in 2011 when she (was engaged by) 1MDB. This has nothing to do with the time I was at Zain & Co (with Loo),” Sequerah said.
Defence failed to prove relationship
He added that the defence team not only failed to show any existing personal or professional relationship between him and Loo, but it also could not provide evidence of a pecuniary or direct relationship with Loo.
The former lawyer pointed out that this was strengthened by the fact that he was in the law firm’s litigation department then, while Loo was in a separate department that dealt with corporate matters.
Sequerah also denied lead defence counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah’s application to stay the trial pending disposal of Najib’s appeal to the Court of Appeal to recuse the judge.
Previously, during the hearing of the recusal bid, Shafee submitted there was a perception of risk of bias on Sequerah’s part, who was a partner in Zain & Co when Loo was made a partner in 2004.
However, deputy public prosecutor Kamal Baharin Omar countered that Loo was only involved with 1MDB in 2011, which was three years after she left the law firm in 2008.
25 charges
Concerning the ongoing trial before Sequerah, which is set to resume next Monday, Najib is facing four counts of abuse of power and 21 counts of money laundering involving RM2.27 billion from 1MDB, a sovereign wealth fund wholly owned by the Minister of Finance Incorporated (MOF Inc).
For the four abuse of power charges, the former Pekan MP is alleged to have committed the offences at AmIslamic Bank Bhd’s Jalan Raja Chulan branch in Bukit Ceylon, Kuala Lumpur, between Feb 24, 2011, and Dec 19, 2014.
On the 21 money laundering counts, the accused is purported to have committed the offences at the same bank between March 22, 2013, and Aug 30, 2013. - Mkini
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