PETALING JAYA: Umno Supreme Council member Isham Jalil has urged the government to review the involvement of Justice Nazlan Ghazali in the establishment of SRC International Sdn Bhd in 2010, arguing that it may have compromised Najib Razak’s right to a fair trial.
Isham said Nazlan failed to disclose his previous role as general counsel and group company secretary to the Maybank Group between 2006 and 2015.
“He also did not mention that Maybank was involved in the establishment of SRC International in 2010,” he said in a Facebook post today.
He also said Maybank had advised 1MDB to establish SRC International as a special company for strategic asset acquisitions.
Considering Nazlan’s association with a bank that played a part in the establishment of SRC, he said, Nazlan might be “incapable of delivering an impartial and unbiased verdict”.
“Justice Nazlan’s involvement raises concerns about bias in his judgment against Najib,” he said.
While Nazlan’s failure to disclose his involvement with Maybank may not be a crime, Isham said, such actions would likely violate judicial ethics.
“(This would) provide a strong basis to review Najib’s SRC International case with an unbiased and impartial judge, so that justice can be upheld for all,” he said.
Earlier today, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim told the Dewan Negara the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) did not find any elements of criminal offences in its investigation of Nazlan.
Anwar said MACC had “thoroughly’” investigated claims that Nazlan had a conflict of interest when presiding over Najib’s trial in the SRC International case.
In March, law and institutional reform minister Azalina Othman Said informed Najib’s solicitors in a letter, MACC had concluded that Nazlan had violated the judges’ code of ethics and had a conflict of interest when presiding over the SRC case.
On Feb 24, a seven-member Federal Court panel led by Chief Justice Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat ruled that MACC had not followed protocol when conducting its investigations into Nazlan.
Nazlan, now a Court of Appeal judge, had convicted Najib in July 2020 on charges of abuse of power, money laundering and criminal breach of trust over RM42 million in funds belonging to SRC International.
He sentenced Najib to 12 years’ jail and fined him RM210 million. Najib’s appeal to the Court of Appeal was dismissed in December 2021. The Federal Court upheld the conviction and sentence last August.
During the hearing, the Federal Court dismissed Najib’s application to adduce fresh evidence to prove that Nazlan was under a serious conflict of interest when presiding over the SRC International trial in 2020.
Tengku Maimun said the application to adduce additional evidence did not fulfil the requirements of the law, adding that there was nothing to suggest that Nazlan made a finding of guilt against Najib based on anything else except the evidence presented during the trial in 2019.
She also said there was no nexus between Nazlan’s previous employment with Maybank and the charges against Najib so as to suggest conflict of interest giving rise to bias. - FMT
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