THE Kuala Lumpur High Court heard today no courts have found former Federal Court judge, Gopal Sri Ram guilty of prosecutorial misconduct for him to be disqualified from prosecuting in Najib Razak’s 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) audit report tampering trial.

Deputy public prosecutor Ahmad Akram Gharib said this during the hearing of the application by the Pekan MP to disqualify Sri Ram from leading the prosecution team in Najib’s ongoing trial over alleged tampering of the 1MDB report, before Justice Mohamed Zaini Mazlan.

“That should be the threshold in the application right now, which is whether he (Sri Ram) had committed prosecutorial misconduct, to which my answer is that, he had not.

“The evidence he presented in all the trials he handled as a representative of the prosecution were relevant and admissible,” he said.

Akram said the point of bias raised in the application had also been adjudicated, hence making it res judicata (a matter decided).

Elaborating the point of bias, he referred to a WhatsApp conversation between Sri Ram and former attorney-general Mohamed Apandi Ali in 2018, which Najib claimed indicated bias, in seeking Apandi to charge him.

“It was a conversation between two buddies. We can see from the tone of the whole conversation. He (Apandi) started his message to Sri Ram with ‘bro’. From there, the conversation went on,” said Akram.

He further said the applicant had also submitted in the written submission Sri Ram was involved in 1MDB-related investigations that caused him to pre-judge the culpability of the applicant.

“His power to supervise investigations conducted by the investigating officer in his capacity as a senior deputy public prosecutor cannot be misconstrued as having taken over the investigation itself.

“The applicant has failed to show any evidence Sri Ram was indeed involved in the investigations against him. As such, the allegation that Sri Ram had taken over the investigations is without basis,” said Akram.

Najib’s lead counsel, Muhammad Shafee Abdullah responded the present disqualification bid did not seek to nullify the whole 1MDB audit trial that has proceeded so far, but merely to see proceedings being conducted without bias.

“The disqualification we seek here is not punishment of anybody or Sri Ram, but to meet substantive fear of bias, on the matter of predetermination of guilt of Najib by Sri Ram.

“It is protection for parties and the public, as well as for the wider interest of justice,” said Shafee.

After hearing submissions from both parties, Zaini fixed February 15 for a decision.

This was the third attempt by Najib to recuse Sri Ram from prosecuting in the 1MDB-linked criminal cases. One application was filed in another 1MDB case before a different judge and the second was through a civil proceeding.

On June 12 last year, Najib filed an application to recuse Sri Ram, supported by two affidavits, one filed by the former and the other by Apandi.

Najib, 67, and former 1MDB chief executive officer, Arul Kanda Kandasamy, 45, are on trial over 1MDB audit tampering charges.

The Pekan MP 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 prevent any action being taken against him, while Arul Kanda is charged with abetting Najib in making the amendments to the report to protect Najib from being subjected to action. – Bernama, January 27, 2021.