Najib Abdul Razak’s legal team is considering whether to seek for Kuala Lumpur High Court judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah to disqualify himself from the former prime minister’s RM2.28 billion 1MDB corruption trial.
Lead defence counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah informed the criminal court this following Sequerah’s disclosure yesterday that he used to be partners in a law firm with the now-arrested 1MDB-linked fugitive, Jasmine Loo.
Yesterday’s disclosure came on the heels of Shafee asking the prosecution team whether they intend to call Loo as a witness in the 1MDB graft trial against former prime minister Najib (above).
Deputy public prosecutor Ahmad Akram Gharib yesterday said that the prosecution so far has no instructions to call Loo to testify against Najib in the current case.
Sequerah was partners with Loo in the law firm Zain & Co between 10 to 15 years ago when he was still a practising lawyer.
However, Loo later left the law firm and Sequerah was then elevated to the bench in 2014.
Shafee this morning told the criminal court that even if Loo is not called as a prosecution witness, there is a possibility that Sequerah may still need to withdraw because various prosecution witnesses referred to Loo - as many as 656 times - in the course of the current trial since 2019.
The lawyer pointed out that former 1MDB CEO Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi’s testimony alone mentioned Loo 374 times and another former 1MDB CEO, Mohd Hazem Abdul Rahman, referred to her 150 times.
Shafee noted that 1MDB’s former chief financial officer Azmi Tahir also mentioned Loo 79 times, while several other prosecution witnesses also referred to her, with an accumulated total of 656 times.
“We are taking the position that, whether Jasmine Loo is called or not, this would have rendered possibly the position of Yang Arif (Your Honour) ought to disqualify yourself due to your previous relationship (with Loo) as partners in a law firm,” Shafee said, adding that Najib and his legal team were surprised by Sequerah’s disclosure.
The defence counsel, however, clarified that they are not making an oral application now but merely informing the court they need some time to research legal precedence on the disqualification, not only in Malaysia but also from countries such as the United Kingdom, United States, and Australia.
“I will deal with it when the time comes,” Sequerah said, with Shafee adding that they seek to inform the court on Aug 14 - when the trial resumes on that day - on whether they have decided to file an official written application to disqualify the judge.
Shafee then resumed his cross-examination of 44th prosecution witness Kevin Michael Swampillai, a former banker with the defunct Singapore branch of BSI Bank.
During the course of the 1MDB trial that began in 2019, Najib’s defence team constantly contended that the accused had no knowledge of wrongdoing at the fund and that the embezzlement was perpetrated by fugitive businessperson Low Taek Jho (Jho Low) as well as by several of his alleged associates such as Loo and several members of the fund’s management.
Under the law, a legal team may seek the disqualification of a judge over cited risks of potential bias and prejudice for various reasons, such as the trial judge having had a working relationship with the accused or a key witness in the case.
On July 12, Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail revealed in a press conference that Loo surrendered herself to the Malaysian authorities after having been at large for many years.
A day later, through her lawyers from the law firm AmerBon, the former 1MDB executive said she wanted to assist authorities in expediting asset recovery efforts related to the scandal.
After Swampillai wrapped up his testimony, deputy public prosecutor Ahmad Akram Gharib informed the court that former Bank Negara governor Zeti Akhtar Aziz would take the witness stand for the prosecution when the trial resumes this afternoon.
Former finance minister Najib is facing four counts of abuse of power and 21 counts of money laundering involving RM2.28 billion from 1MDB, a Malaysian sovereign wealth fund fully owned by the Minister of Finance Incorporated (MOF Inc).
For the four abuse of power charges, the former Pekan MP is alleged to have committed the offences at AmIslamic Bank Bhd’s Jalan Raja Chulan branch in Bukit Ceylon, Kuala Lumpur, between Feb 24, 2011, and Dec 19, 2014.
On the 21 money laundering counts, the accused is purported to have committed the offences at the same bank between March 22, 2013, and Aug 30, 2013. - Mkini
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