CLAIMS of judicial misconduct raised in an affidavit by sitting Court of Appeal judge Hamid Sultan Abu Backer should be investigated and not expunged, said lawyer Sangeet Kaur Deo.

Sangeet, who filed a suit in January against the chief justice for failing to address the alleged judicial misconduct, said what Hamid raised requires an internal investigation or a royal commission of inquiry.

The office of the chief justice is seeking to expunge 144 paragraphs out of 152 of Hamid’s affidavit, which are cited in Sangeet’s suit.

“Why has everyone kept quiet? The stakeholders should stand up and ask to investigate,” she told reporters after a hearing at the Kuala Lumpur High Court today.

Sangeet is in the process of withdrawing the suit as she is looking at pursuing the matter through other avenues.

Today, high court judge Mohd Firuz Jaffril heard a submission by the office of the chief justice to expunge parts of the affidavit despite the pending withdrawal of the suit.  

Senior federal counsel S. Narkunavathy argued that the allegations raised by Hamid was hearsay as he did not name the source of his information and, therefore, had no direct knowledge about the alleged judicial misconduct.

The affidavit also contained averments that are scandalous and irrelevant, she said.

Sangeet’s lawyer, Malek Imtiaz responded by saying that as an application was filed orally to withdraw the suit, the matter would be rendered academic. Firuz has reserved judgment to November 22

“Personally, I would like to know the purpose of the expungement in view of the fact that the case is going to be over. Why still insist on expungement? That has not been answered in this court,” she told reporters after the hearing.

Sangeet, the daughter of late DAP stalwart Karpal Singh, filed the originating summons against the chief justice on January 14, alleging that he failed to act on alleged judicial interference in her father’s sedition appeal and in the M. Indira Gandhi conversion case. The chief justice was not named.

On February 21, 2014, the high court found Karpal guilty of sedition for saying the removal of Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin as then Perak menteri besar by the late Perak sultan, Sultan Azlan Shah, and the appointment of Zambry Abdul Kadir in his place during the Perak constitutional crisis in 2009, could be questioned in court.

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

Earlier this year, Hamid alleged widespread corruption in the judiciary in an affidavit filed on February 14 in support of Sangeet’s application to declare that the chief justice failed to defend the integrity and credibility of the institution in two alleged incidents of judicial interference.

Richard Malanjum was the chief justice when the suit was filed. He retired on April 13.

Sangeet is now seeking to withdraw her suit after communicating recently with the current Chief Justice Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat that she will take another legal route to address allegations of judicial misconduct.

“I have made an application to withdraw the matter (suit) because I have already written to the current CJ (chief justice) to make a fresh complaint to her in view of the allegation of judicial interference,” she told The Malaysian Insight in August.

“I understand she has responded. I understand her position of conflict because she was one of the members of the panel that decided on my dad’s matter,” she said, adding that a letter has been sent to the Court of Appeal president Ahmad Maarop, the second highest-ranked member of the judiciary. – October 2, 2019.