Court rules against senior judge's legal action against ethics panel

 

The Judges’ Ethics Committee’s probe against Court of Appeal judge Hamid Sultan Abu Backer is set to proceed.

This follows the ruling by the High Court in Kuala Lumpur today against two of the senior judge’s legal actions against the committee.

The first is the High Court allowing the committee’s application to strike out Hamid Sultan's originating summons challenging the committee’s probe, which was allegedly into the affidavit as well as a decision he made in a Court of Appeal case.

The second is the High Court allowing the committee’s application to strike out his related judicial review leave application.

The outcome of the online High Court proceedings was confirmed by senior federal counsel S Narkunavathy and Ahmad Hanir Hambaly.

Narkunavathy, who represented the committee as well as its chairperson, said that the court struck out Hamid Sultan’s originating summons on grounds that it was unsustainable and without merit, among other reasons.

“The complaints against HS (Hamid Sultan) were for making disparaging remarks against judges/judiciary and not for the making of the grounds of judgment (in a Court of Appeal case) or affidavit (alleging judicial misconduct),” she said in reference to the grounds of the High Court's decision.

No decision from the ethics panel

Also acting for the committee and its chairperson, Ahmad Hanir said that the court dismissed Hamid Sultan’s judicial review leave application because the committee has not made any decision in its investigation against the senior judge.

“There is no decision (by the committee) that can be subjected to judicial review and the applicant’s (Hamid Sultan's) application is premature.

“The Judges' Ethics Committee has not made any decision regarding the complaint made against Hamid Sultan,” he said in explaining the High Court ruling.

“The proceedings before the Judges' Ethics Committee is still at the stage of calling Hamid Sultan to make a representation. No decision has been made (by the committee),” the senior federal counsel said.

Asked about the effect of the verdict on the interim stay against the committee’s probe against Hamid Sultan, Ahmad Hanir said that the interim stay falls with today’s ruling.

On Nov 12 last year, online news portal Free Malaysia Today reported that the High Court in Kuala Lumpur granted Hamid Sultan an interim stay against the committee’s proceedings against him, pending the disposal of the judicial review leave application.

When contacted, Hamid Sultan’s counsel Joy W Appukuttan confirmed that the High Court dismissed the originating summons as well as the judicial review leave application, with no order to costs.

“We (Hamid Sultan’s legal team) have instructions to appeal (to the Court of Appeal),” the lawyer said.

It was reported that the High Court fixed for a decision on the senior judge’s application for leave to commence judicial review against the committee’s quorum.

Hamid Sultan seeks to challenge the quorum as some of the judges there were allegedly linked to his affidavit over purported judicial misconduct.

Today was also set for the High Court’s decision on the committee’s application to strike out Hamid Sultan's originating summons.

Filed on Oct 20 last year, the judicial review leave application named the committee and its chairperson as the two respondents in the matter.

Lawyer Sangeet Kaur Deo

Earlier, on Oct 9 last year, Hamid Sultan also filed an originating summons against the committee, its chairperson and two lawyers over the investigation into the affidavit. The two lawyers are Sangeet Kaur Deo and Mohamed Haniff Khatri Abdulla.

The judicial review leave application alleged that it would be “highly prejudicial, procedurally incorrect and a breach of natural justice” to allow judges, who were alleged to be part of the bench that heard appeals linked to the cases of PKR president Anwar Ibrahim and the late veteran lawyer Karpal Singh, to be part of the committee probing the issue of Hamid Sultan’s affidavit.

Hamid Sultan’s affidavit contained allegations linked to the previous appeals involving Anwar’s sodomy case and Karpal’s sedition case, among others.

On Aug 16 last year, it was reported that Hamid Sultan had received a show-cause letter from the Judges' Ethics Committee, allegedly in relation to the affidavit.

Hamid Sultan had made several claims in his affidavit, which was filed in February 2019, prompting 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.

Sangeet had relied on Hamid Sultan’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.

Haniff Khatri had previously tried but had not succeeded in his bid to intervene in Sangeet’s lawsuit against the chief justice. - Mkini