After having presided over former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak’s RM42 million SRC International corruption case, judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali is now part of the Court of Appeal bench that allowed Sam Ke Ting to stay out of jail pending appeal.
Besides judge P Ravinthran, who presided over the three-person bench, and fellow bench member Lee Heng Cheong, Nazlan formed today’s unanimous decision to grant leave to the clerk to proceed with her appeal against her six-year jail term and RM6,000 fine.
Sam, 27, is appealing against the Johor Bahru High Court decision on Wednesday last week to overturn her acquittal for reckless driving which involved the death of eight teen cyclists in 2017.
High Court judge Abu Bakar Katar also did not allow her legal team’s application to stay the custodial sentence and fine pending disposal of her appeal.
As the reckless driving case initially originated at the Magistrate’s Court rather than the Sessions Court, she needed to obtain leave from the Court of Appeal before she could proceed with the appeal.
Having previously been a commercial High Court judge, Nazlan was tasked with hearing the SRC case against Najib with the trial beginning in April 2019.
In July 2020, the then Kuala Lumpur High Court judge convicted the former premier over one count of abuse of power, three counts of criminal breach of trust (CBT) and three counts of money laundering involving RM42 million of funds from SRC.
Nazlan had also sentenced the accused to 12 years in jail and RM210 million fine. However, he allowed Najib’s bid to stay the sentence pending appeal. The former premier was represented by counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah.
On Feb 5 this year, the 54-year-old judge was promoted to the Court of Appeal.
However, in accordance with judicial practice, the Court of Appeal panel that would eventually hear the merits of Sam’s appeal may be partially or completely different from today’s bench that granted her leave to appeal.
Meanwhile, the Bar Council is set to assist the Appellate Court in the upcoming hearing of the merits of Sam’s appeal.
This followed after the three-person bench today allowed an application by the Malaysian Bar’s lawyer, Ravinder Singh Dhalliwal, for it to act as amicus curiae in the case.
Under the law, an amicus curiae is an individual or organisation who is not a party to a court case, but who obtains greenlight to assist the court by offering information, expertise, or insight that has a bearing on the issues in the case.
The decision on whether to consider an amicus brief lies within the discretion of the court.
Today’s panel also shot down applications by lawyers Muhammad Shafee Abdullah and Ng Kian Nam, who represented the Universiti of Malaya Law Faculty Alumni Association (Parfum) and MCA respectively, for the groups to be amicus curiae in the case.
Two days ago, Shafee offered to represent Sam in her final appeal.
While open-court proceedings were ongoing today, the bespectacled clerk - clad in blue baju kurung and face mask - was seen closely following submissions by legal counsel.
An interpreter is seen standing just outside the dock to explain to Sam what was transpiring before the Appellate Court.
Also seen sitting in the public gallery behind the clerk are what is believed to be a few members of her family. - Mkini
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