DISGRACED former prime minister Najib Razak lost his appeal in the Federal Court today to disqualify Gopal Sri Ram from appearing for the prosecution in his 1MDB audit tampering trial.

A three-member bench of the Federal Court comprising Justices Vernon Ong, Zabariah Mohd Yusof and Hasnah Mohammed Hashim unanimously dismissed Najib’s appeal, ruling that there was no evidence of bias on Sri Ram’s part, following his appointment as senior deputy public prosecutor.

Justice Ong, who led the panel, said the court agreed with the High Court and the Appellate Court that there was no evidence to show that Sri Ram had participated in the investigation process and carried out the investigation in Najib’s 1MDB cases.

“We do not think the High Court and the Court of Appeal had committed error of law warranting appellate intervention,” he said.

However, Justice Ong said the courts had the inherent jurisdiction to disqualify a lawyer from acting as deputy public prosecutor in any criminal case.

Najib had applied to disqualify Sri Ram in his audit tampering trial, seeking declarations that there was a conflict of interest between Sri Ram’s appointment as senior deputy public prosecutor and his continuous practice as an advocate and solicitor.

He also sought a declaration that Sri Ram had acted in conflict of interest of his appointment as senior deputy public prosecutor, having displayed bias and having preconceived and pre-determined notions of Najib’s guilt even before the latter was officially charged in any court.

He also wanted an order that Sri Ram also is disqualified from continuing to act as senior deputy public prosecutor or to appear on behalf of the public prosecutor in his other 1MDB-related criminal cases.

The other 1MDB-linked trials against Najib still pending at Kuala Lumpur High Court are the 1MDB case, the criminal breach of trust involving payments to the International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC) and the money-laundering and abuse of power linked to the 1MDB case.

On February 15, the High Court dismissed Najib’s appeal, a decision upheld by the Court of Appeal on September 8.

The High Court has fixed January 30 next year to say whether Najib and former 1MDB chief executive officer Arul Kanda Kandasamy will need to enter a defence in the audit tampering case.

Najib is charged with using his position to order amendments to the 1MDB final audit report before it was presented to the Public Accounts Committee to sidestep any possible disciplinary or criminal action, while Arul Kanda, 45, is charged with abetting Najib.

The offence was allegedly committed at the Prime Minister’s Department Complex, Federal Government administrative centre in Putrajaya between February 22 and 26, 2016.

Najib is serving 12 years in prison and must pay a RM210 million fine for misappropriating RM42 million in SRC International funds, having lost his final appeal against the conviction at Federal Court in August. – Bernama, December 7, 2022.