In a 2-1 majority decision, the Federal Court today granted Najib Abdul Razak's application to adjourn the hearing of his leave bid to revive his RM1.9 million civil suit against former attorney-general Tommy Thomas after being told that the former prime minister was recovering from a heart procedure.
A three-member panel comprising Federal Court judges Abu Bakar Jais and Azmi Ariffin formed the majority, while Azimah Omar dissented.
Delivering the majority decision, Abu Bakar said he was inclined to allow the adjournment as Najib was a party to the lawsuit and wished to be present and participate in the proceedings.
“Najib is unwell and, under the circumstances, I am allowing this application,” he said.
Azmi, who concurred with the majority decision, reminded the parties that it would be the final adjournment granted in the matter, stressing that the hearing of the leave application would proceed on the next hearing date regardless of whether Najib was able to attend.
In dissent, Azimah ruled that the hearing should proceed as the application concerned questions of law and not facts, which did not require Najib's presence.
“This application for an adjournment was only made at the last minute. If the applicant was serious about wanting to be present and had already been placed on medical leave on July 24, the application should have been filed on that very day.
“Had we known earlier that the applicant intended to seek an adjournment, it would have saved the judges’ time. Judges hear cases every day. We have spent three to four hours reading your files. This is not an efficient use of our time. For that reason, the application for an adjournment should therefore be declined,” she said.
Earlier, Najib’s counsel Firoz Hussein Ahmad Jamaluddin asked for the adjournment as his client is still recovering from a heart procedure and is unable to attend the proceedings himself.
However, lawyer Allan Adrian Gomez, who acted for Thomas, objected and said the hearing should proceed as it did not require Najib's presence.
Alleged abuse of power
The former Pekan MP had filed the suit on Oct 22, 2021, alleging that Thomas abused his power when prosecuting him in relation to the 1MDB case.
Through the suit, Najib claimed that Thomas had acted with malicious intent when filing charges against him in relation to the 1MDB and International Petroleum Investment Company cases. Thomas served as AG from June 4, 2018, to Feb 28, 2020.
On Nov 25, 2022, the High Court allowed Thomas' application to strike out Najib's suit without a full trial.
In January this year, a three-member Court of Appeal bench upheld the High Court's decision to strike out the suit, ruling that it was clearly premature because the criminal case had yet to commence when it was filed.
Najib then filed the notice of motion on Feb 10, seeking to challenge the Court of Appeal’s decision. In the application, Najib raised three legal questions for determination by the Federal Court and requested permission to file a notice of appeal within one month should leave be granted.
Following that, in March, Najib filed an application at the Federal Court seeking leave to appeal to revive his civil suit against Thomas. Under the law, litigants in civil cases must first obtain leave before they can proceed with an appeal to the Federal Court.
- Bernama
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