Mahathir questions top judge hearing appeal against Najib
He says he has doubts over legality of Chief Justice Raus Sharif’s ruling in dismissing lawsuit against Prime Minister Najib Razak.
KUALA LUMPUR: Dr Mahathir Mohamad questioned the legitimacy of the ruling by Chief Justice Raus Sharif today in dismissing the former prime minister’s appeal over a public misfeasance lawsuit against Prime Minister Najib Razak.
“He should not even be listening to this case today.
“I have my doubts about the legality of his decision in the case,” said Mahathir, referring to the decision by a three-man bench, chaired by Raus, in affirming the previous decisions by the Court of Appeal and High Court.
The former prime minister did not attend the hearing at the apex court in Putrajaya this morning and gave his comments on the decision at the Kuala Lumpur High Court complex this afternoon after testifying in another case involving his son Mukhriz’s defamation suit against Tunku Abdul Aziz Tunku Ibrahim.
Mahathir said he was baffled over the Federal Court’s decision in affirming Najib is not a public officer.
“He is a public officer, otherwise he wouldn’t be where he is because whatever he does involves the government and the public,” he said.
Earlier today, Raus, in chairing the Federal Court panel, dismissed leave to appeal by Mahathir and 1MDB critic Khairuddin Abu Hassan against a High Court decision last year to strike out their suit against Najib for alleged abuse of power in office.
Mahathir’s lawyer Haniff Khatri Abdulla sought to recuse Raus from hearing the case today on the grounds there is another case against Raus by Mahathir that is pending at the Court of Appeal.
Mahathir had last year challenged the appointment of Raus, as chief justice, and Zulkefli Ahmad Makinuddin as Court of Appeal president through a judicial review application but the court refused to grant leave to initiate the challenge.
The top judge dismissed Haniff’s application to recuse himself and continued to hear the case.
In dismissing the appeal, Raus said Mahathir and Khairuddin, who are the appellants, failed to meet the threshold of Section 96 of the Courts of the Judicature Act in persuading the apex court to grant leave.
In the statement of claim filed in March 2016, Mahathir and two others said they were among the rightful parties to take action against Najib.
They traced the chronology of the 1MDB investigations dating back to March 2015, from the formation of a special task force, to then attorney-general Abdul Gani Patail’s sudden resignation, and the sacking of former deputy prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin.
They said Najib had continuously interfered with the due process of the law to ensure all the relevant authorities discontinued from carrying out and concluding the investigations into his alleged misconduct over the RM2.6 billion donation.
They wanted a declaration that Najib had committed the tort of misfeasance and breach of fiduciary duty in public office.
They also wanted Najib to return to the government the money found in his private bank accounts.
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