KUALA LUMPUR: The Federal Court has fixed Oct 15 to hear whether Attorney-General Tommy Thomas was correct in appointing senior lawyer Gopal Sri Ram as ad hoc deputy public prosecutor to conduct prosecution.
Senior Federal Counsel Shamsul Bolhassan said the date was fixed after a case management before a deputy court registrar today.
Lawyer Muhammad Farhan Muhammad Shafee appeared for his father Muhammad Shafee Abdullah and former prime minister Najib Razak, the respondents.
The move by Thomas, in the wake of an attempt by Najib and Shafee to challenge the validity of Sri Ram’s appointment at the High Court, is to bring a quick resolution to the matter.
“We have filed five questions of law to obtain leave from the apex court to hear the merit of our appeal,” Shamsul said.
Shamsul said the Oct 25 hearing before a High Court of the judicial review applications by Najib and Shafee challenging Sri Ram’s appointment would, therefore, depend on the apex court’s decision.
Judge Mariana Yahya had on Sept 6 fixed hearing of the judicial review after the Court of Appeal ordered the merit of the case to be heard.
A three-member bench led by Hasnah Mohamed Hashim said there was merit in the appeals by the duo for leave to be granted in their judicial review applications.
Najib and Shafee are challenging the AG’s decision to appoint Sri Ram as deputy public prosecutor under Section 376 of the Criminal Procedure Code.
Shafee said the provision was only applicable to deputy public prosecutors who were civil servants and who came under the judicial and legal service.
He and Najib are also seeking to disqualify Sri Ram from prosecuting in any criminal cases involving them.
Sri Ram and lawyer Sulaiman Abdullah were given a licence by Thomas as deputy public prosecutors in the 1MDB and SRC International Sdn Bhd cases on Aug 31 last year.
Sri Ram has also been tasked with leading the prosecution in the International Petroleum Investment Co case involving Najib and former Treasury secretary-general Mohd Irwan Serigar Abdullah.
The former Federal Court judge is also tasked with prosecuting Shafee over a RM9.5 million money laundering case.
He is charged with two counts of receiving proceeds amounting to RM9.5 million from unlawful activities from Najib and two counts of making false declarations to the Inland Revenue Board.
Sri Ram is currently leading the prosecution team in the 1MDB case where Najib is standing trial on 25 money laundering and abuse of power charges amounting to RM2.28 billion. - FMT
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