Despite chief justice Richard Malanjum assuring that allegations of judicial interference cases will be probed internally, lawyer Mohd Haniff Khatri Abdulla believes a special taskforce and Royal Commission of Inquiry are also needed to fully uphold the integrity of the institution.
This is because, Haniff said, junior judges have told him of purported transgressions extending beyond the two high-profile cases – the unilateral conversion of M Indira Gandhi's children and the late parliamentarian Karpal Singh's sedition trial.
"However, they (junior judges) are afraid to come forward, as they fear it may affect their promotion. The issues plaguing the whole of the judiciary needs to be looked into.
"An internal probe regarding the two matters may only address the issues at hand, but not the bigger picture. A special task force is needed so the matter can be investigated and brought up in an RCI.
"This is to ensure improvements are done to ensure the continued independence and integrity of the judiciary," he told Malaysiakini.
Yesterday, de facto Law Minister Law Liew Vui Kong said further action on the claims of judicial interference in the two cases will only be taken once the internal probe by the chief justice's office is complete.
In the Indira case, Court of Appeal judge Hamid Sultan Abu Backer claimed to have been reprimanded by a top judge in 2016 for writing a dissenting judgement.
Hamid has ruled that Indira's children were converted illegally, as her permission had not been obtained. As a result, he alleged that was not assigned to hear cases involving public interests and those related to constitutional challenges.
In the Karpal case, his daugther Sangeet Kaur Deo filed a police report last month after Haniff claimed that a senior judge interfered with the outcome of the late DAP leader's 2016 sedition appeal to ensure a conviction.
Haniff was quizzed by the police on Friday on the allegation. - Mkini
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