Shafee wants more time to prepare for CJ’s recusal bid, court says ‘no’

 

Shafee Abdullah says he does not have any court documents with him.

PUTRAJAYA: Lawyer Shafee Abdullah has requested that the Federal Court give him a short adjournment of “less than 24 hours” to enable him to prepare his arguments in Najib Razak’s bid to recuse Chief Justice Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat from hearing the SRC International appeal.

Shafee, who made a dramatic return to Najib’s legal team this morning, said he did not have any court documents with him and that he came to court from another event in Petaling Jaya.

However, Tengku Maimun rejected the request, saying “we find no reason to adjourn”.

“If we proceed today (to hear Najib’s recusal application) and conclude today, no one needs to be here (in court) tomorrow,” she said.

Shafee said there was no conspiracy between him and Najib’s other lawyers to delay the hearing. He also attempted to explain the various adjournment bids.

However, Tengku Maimun told him the court was not interested in hearing about the previous requests.

“Let’s not waste time, just go into merits (of the recusal application),” she said.

Ad hoc prosecutor V Sithambaram told the court the prosecution objected to any attempt to further delay the appeal hearing.

He argued that the recusal bid was another attempt to scuttle the hearing.

Earlier, Najib’s lead counsel, Hisyam Teh Poh Teik, told the court that Shafee will assist him in the former prime minister’s bid to recuse Tengku Maimun.

This came after Najib filed an application to recuse Tengku Maimun from hearing the appeal on grounds that her husband, Zamani Ibrahim, had “negative sentiments” towards his leadership, which he expressed in a Facebook post in the aftermath of the 14th general election. - FMT