CHIEF Justice of Malaysia Richard Malanjum said he will take several weeks to file his affidavit-in-reply to a legal challenge by Karpal Singh’s daughter.

Malanjum, who launched the legal year for Sabah and Sarawak today, said the papers are now being drawn up over the matter.

“It will take a few weeks, but I will file the affidavit,” he said, adding that the Kuala Lumpur High Court requires that his affidavit be filed before February 11.

Sangeet Kaur Deo had filed an originating summons on January 14, seeking a declaration that the chief justice had failed to perform his duties as the head of the judiciary to defend the integrity and credibility of the judiciary relating to two allegations of judicial interference in relation to the decision on her late father’s sedition appeal and in the case of kindergarten mother M. Indira Gandhi.

Sangeet said the issue cropped up when lawyer Mohamed Haniff Khatri Abdulla issued a statement claiming that a senior judge interfered with the outcome of Karpal’s sedition appeal.

Malanjum said today that the judiciary had suspended its probe as police have also launched an investigation, adding that an appeal is still pending at the Federal Court over the case.

“It is very obvious, for a few reasons, we do not want to jeopardise the police investigation, as well as to ensure there will be no prejudice into the case, aside from the appeal.”

Karpal died in a road accident on April 17, 2014.

He had been charged with sedition for saying that the removal of Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin as Perak menteri besar by the late Sultan Azlan Shah of Perak, and the appointment of Zambry Abdul Kadir in his place, could be questioned in court.

On February 21, 2014, the High Court found Karpal guilty of sedition. On May 30, 2016, his conviction was upheld by the Court of Appeal.

In her summons, Sangeet also claimed there was judicial interference in the case of Indira Gandhi, when Court of Appeal judge Hamid Sultan Abu Backer revealed that he had been reprimanded by a top judge for writing a dissenting judgment two years ago in the case of the unilateral conversion of Indira’s children to Islam by her ex-husband.

In her affidavit, Sangeet said she filed the originating summons “in light of his (Malanjum’s) failure thus far to investigate and complete investigations relating to two very serious allegations of judicial interference within the Malaysian judiciary”. – January 18, 2019.