PETALING JAYA: The Malaysian Bar has called on all parties to respect the Federal Court's decision on cases related to the conviction of former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak (pic) in the SRC international case.
Bar president Karen Cheah said that the opinion of the sole dissenting judge in the Federal Court’s 4-1 decision to dismiss Najib's application for leave to review his conviction and sentence in the SRC international case should not be misinterpreted as grounds to review a decision made by the courts.
"Any dissenting judgment in the Court of Appeal and the Federal Court amounts to nothing more than a difference of opinion and does not give grounds for a retrial; nor does it establish a right to a 'further' review under Rule 137 of the Rules of the Federal Court 1995.
"There must be finality to litigation. A difference of opinion or judgment by a minority judge cannot prevail over the majority judgment.
"If all it takes is for one dissenting judgment to give rise to the possibility of a fresh review upon an already decided judicial review, then there will be no end to litigation.
"It will also open the door to lawyers and judges being susceptible to 'unsavoury strategy' or 'outside influence' just to cause a situation of a fresh review to frustrate the course of justice.
"Any ongoing attempts to exploit a minority judgment to confuse the public on existing well-founded legal principles of our justice system only goes towards blank shots designed to undermine the faith placed by all of us in the Judiciary as our revered institution.
"The nation’s hope for a strong democracy and good governance lies in the strength of the Judiciary as an institution, not an individual," she stressed in a press release on Monday (April 4).
Cheah also noted that the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) had overstepped its authority in its investigation of Court of Appeal judge Datuk Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali.
"Investigations into a former high court judge pertains to breaches of judicial ethics which is not within the competence nor understanding of MACC.
"The proper body to investigate and decide on the ethical conduct of judges lies with the Judicial Ethics Committee established under the Judges’ Ethics Committee Act 2010.
"The Judiciary, as an institution, and judges, are conferred with certain constitutional guarantees that insulates them from political pressures — a safeguard that is necessary to secure their impartiality.
"Any MACC investigation into the purported breach of judges’ ethics blatantly contravenes the doctrine of separation of powers, as it amounts to an interference by the Executive with the administration of justice," she said.
Mohd Nazlan was the High Court trial judge who had convicted and sentenced former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to 12 years’ jail and a RM210mil fine on seven charges relating to RM42mil in funds belonging to SRC International Sdn Bhd on July 28, 2020.
