Court to hear bid by Najib, Zahid to revoke Khairuddin’s 1MDB suit on Jan 18
The action comes in the wake of Khairuddin claiming they breached their constitutional oaths by making misleading statements over 1MDB and the RM2.6 billion deposited into Najib’s personal accounts.
KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court has fixed Jan 18 to hear a striking out application by Prime Minister Najib Razak and his deputy Ahmad Zahid Hamidi for allegedly violating their constitutional oaths.
Lawyer Syed Iskandar Syed Jaafar Al Mahdzar, who is appearing for former Umno leader Khairuddin Abu Hassan, said his client had also been instructed to file his submission by Jan 8.
“The striking out application will be heard before Justice Ahmad Zaidi Ibrahim,” he told reporters after a case management today before court deputy registrar M Pavani.
Lawyer Yazid Mustaqim Roslan appeared for Najib and Zahid.
Khairuddin, an ardent critic of state investor 1MDB, in his statement of claim said both leaders were unfit to be in the cabinet for misleading the public that RM2.6 billion in Najib’s account had come from an Arab donor.
He said Najib and Zahid had violated their oath of office, prescribed under the Sixth Schedule, to preserve, protect and defend the Federal Constitution.
The former Batu Kawan Umno division vice-chairman, who was sacked in 2015, wants a declaration that Najib is unfit to hold the prime minister’s post or to be a member of the cabinet established under Article 43 of the constitution.
Khairuddin also wants a similar declaration that Zahid, who is also home minister, is unfit to hold any position in the cabinet.
He said both became trustees of their office in public law and were, accordingly, under duty not to knowingly misrepresent facts or to mislead citizens or lie to them on material issues.
Khairuddin said sometime in March 2013, US$681 million (RM2.6 billion) was deposited in the private account of Najib, which he claimed belonged to 1MDB.
He said Najib had on several occasions publicly denied that the money belonged to 1MDB and instead declared that it came from an Arab donor.
“In truth, the monies came from a company called Tanore Corporation Finance which is controlled by Low Taek Jho or Jho Low,” Khairuddin added.
Khairuddin said Zahid had declared, publicly as well as in the Dewan Rakyat, that he had met the donor or donors of the US$681 million.
This year, Najib successfully annulled three 1MDB-related suits, the first in April where the court allowed the prime minister to revoke an action by Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Khairuddin and Anina Saadudin over tort of misfeasance in public office.
Justice Abu Bakar Jais said the suit was not sustainable as the prime minister was not a public officer in public office but a member of the administration.
The second was by Judicial Commissioner Faizah Jamaludin who, in October, struck out a suit for misfeasance in public office over the 1MDB affair filed by Petaling Jaya Utara MP Tony Pua.
Faizah said Pua lacked the legal capacity as a taxpayer to file the suit against the company whose majority shareholder was the finance ministry.
Last month, Zaid Ibrahim became the third casualty when the court struck out the former de facto law minister’s suit for breach of fiduciary duty by Najib, stepson Riza Aziz, 1MDB and the government.
Judicial Commissioner Rohani Ismail ruled that the class action suit did not disclose any reasonable cause of action against Najib and the rest, and that it was a frivolous and vexatious act and an abuse of court process.
Zaid, who is now a DAP member, in his suit, had wanted the US$731 million deposited into Najib’s bank accounts to be returned to the government, along with RM42 million received from 1MDB subsidiary SRC International Sdn Bhd.
Zaid’s suit claimed US$50 million was deposited into Najib’s accounts between February 2011 and November 2012 while US$681 million was deposited in March 2013.
The US$681 million is widely known as the RM2.6 billion donation, based on the exchange rate at that time.
Najib has filed two more striking-out applications tied to 1MDB but the courts have yet to hear the matters.
Early this month, US attorney-general Jeff Sessions described the multi-billion dollar corruption scandal involving 1MDB as the worst form of kleptocracy, and said the US Department of Justice was working to provide justice to the victims.
Sessions said “allegedly corrupt officials” in 1MDB had reportedly spent US$200 million on real estate in Southern California and New York, US$130 million on artwork, invested US$100 million in an American music label and US$265 million on a yacht.
1MDB was once a pet project of Najib, who chaired its advisory board until last year.
The fund is the subject of money-laundering investigations in at least six countries, including Switzerland, Singapore and the US.
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Najib, who faces a general election next year, has denied any wrongdoing and was cleared of any offence by Malaysia’s attorney-general.