The Malaysian Insight

THE Court of Appeal today dismissed the appeals by Najib Razak and his lawyer, Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, to recuse Gopal Sri Ram as senior deputy public prosecutor (DPP) in their respective trials.

In delivering the decision, judge Yaacob Md Sam, who is leading a panel of three judges with Lee Heng Cheong and Che Mohd Ruzima Ghazali, said it was a unanimous decision.

“We have no doubt that Sri Ram is more than qualified as a fit and proper person to be appointed as senior DPP.

“We are of the opinion that the High Court has not erred in dismissing the appellants’ judicial review application.

“We dismissed both the appeals, we affirm the order of the High Court,” Yaacob said during the online proceeding conducted through Zoom.

Earlier, Shafee represented Najib and lawyer Harvinderjit Singh, who acted for Shafee, appealed against a High Court’s dismissal of their judicial review applications to disqualify the former Federal Court judge.

On August 28 last year, the Kuala Lumpur High Court had ruled that the appointment of Sri Ram was valid.

Najib filed the judicial review application to disqualify Sri Ram as the senior DPP in his 1MDB-linked cases in December 2018.

Shafee also filed for a judicial review seeking to recuse Sri Ram from his RM9.5 million money laundering trial.

They challenged the legality of Sri Ram’s appointment in leading the prosecution team in all of their trials.

Yaacob said that Parliament, in amending section 376(3) of the Criminal Procedure Code, had intended to give power to the Attorney-General (AG) and the Public Prosecutor (PP) to appoint and designate any suitable person as a senior DPP.

“The AG (cum) PP was satisfied that Sri Ram is a fit and proper person within the meaning of section 376(3) of the criminal procedure code at that time when Sri Ram was appointed senior DPP.

“The appellant must prove that the AG acted in contravention of the laws in the appointment or that the AG or PP acted in mala fide. We are of the view that the appellant(s) has failed to do so,” Yaacob said.

Senior federal counsel Shamsul Bolhassan appeared for the government, the AG and Sri Ram as respondents.

Shafee was also present online from New York using the Statue of Liberty as his Zoom background.

Former prime minister Najib’s 1MDB Tanore trial resumes tomorrow at the Kuala Lumpur High Court with Sri Ram continuing to lead the prosecution. – November 8, 2021.