THE Kuala Lumpur High Court has rejected an application by lawyer Mohamed Haniff Khatri Abdulla to intervene in a suit against the chief justice over alleged judicial misconduct.

Justice Mohd Firuz Jaffril said Haniff’s application lacked merit, Malaysiakini reports.

The court found Haniff had failed to prove he would be affected if a ruling were to be made on the legal action filed by lawyer Sangeet Kaur Deo.

Haniff had sought to intervene in the suit concerning the chief justice’s bid to expunge portions of Court of Appeal judge Hamid Sultan Abu Backer’s (JHS) affidavit, which Sangeet is relying on for her suit against the CJ.

“The court agrees with the submission of the respondent (the chief justice who is not named) that Haniff failed to demonstrate how his rights and interest would be directly affected by this court’s decision of Enclosure 12 (respondent’s application to expunge certain portion of JHS affidavit in support of the applicant’s (Sangeet’s) application.

“The facts show that the statements made by Haniff in his Facebook postings were not in his personal knowledge but based on what JHS told him.

“Haniff also confirmed that he had informed the police of the same upon being interviewed in the course of the investigation.

“There is no change of as to who gave the information regardless of whether the PI’s application to intervene is allowed or dismissed,” Firuz said in his judgment.

Haniff’s argument that his name was mentioned in the suit’s cause papers and that he has a right as a lawyer to intervene under the Legal Profession Act 1976 was not good enough, the judge said.

The court also dismissed Haniff’s bid to be amicus curiae, Latin for “friend of the court” whereby someone who is not a party in a legal action can help the court by providing information, expertise or insight that may have a bearing on the case.

Sangeet represented herself in the suit, the chief justice was represented by senior federal counsel S. Narkunavathy, Haniff by Mohd Irzan Iswatt Mohd Nor, and Hamid by Joy Appukuttan. – September 11, 2019.