THE allegations and probe against Court of Appeal judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali must be seen in the context of surreptitious attempts to free Najib Razak, P Ramasamy said today.

The Penang deputy chief minister said that it was unfortunate that an “efficient and bold” judge has been targeted for prosecution.

“It is just that his decision on Najib was not to the liking of some powerful figures in the country.

“Is the probe against Nazlan because of the unexplained amount of money in his account or because he was the judge who presided over the corruption trial of Najib resulting in the latter’s conviction?

“Najib lost his appeal in the appeals court and the matter has been escalated to the federal court for an ultimate decision.

“It is not certain when the decision will be made, but one thing is for sure, there is an attempt to discredit the judge hoping that such an attempt, if successful, could influence the federal court’s judgment.

“It is a well-orchestrated design by those in Najib’s camp to discredit Nazlan before the federal court decides,” said the DAP leader in a statement.

In 2020, Nazlan sentenced Najib to 12 years in prison and RM210 million for corruption, abuse of power, and money laundering.

The Court of Appeal upheld the decision last year. Najib is appealing the case in the Federal Court.

The Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission opened an investigation paper into Nazlan on April 23, following a report lodged by Persatuan Sahabat Ulul Amri Malaysia (Psuam) based on allegations contained in former Goldman Sachs banker Tim Leissner’s testimony in a US court.

Psuam claimed that Leissner’s testimony linked Nazlan to 1MDB’s deal involving Tanjung Energy Holdings Sdn Bhd in 2012. At this time, Nazlan was with Maybank.

Najib’s legal team has also tried to discredit Nazlan by claiming that he had a conflict of interest in the 1MDB case.

At the same time, blogger Raja Petra Kamurudin had claimed that Nazlan had unexplained wealth in his bank account.

Ramasamy said that he was worried if the ongoing MACC investigation would cast sufficient doubts about the integrity and honesty of Nazlan.

“If this is done, then there is a good chance that Najib’s lawyers will be able to mount an effective appeal on the grounds that Nazlan was a ‘crooked’ judge.

“Once Nazlan has been sufficiently discredited, there is wishful thinking on the part of the Najib’s camp, the federal court decision will be in favour of ‘Bossku’,” he said.

Yesterday, three lawyers filed a legal action against the MACC and the government over the probe into Nazlan, saying that the agency was not entitled to investigate judges unless they have been suspended or removed.

Haris Ibrahim, Nur Ain Binti Mustapa and Sreekant Pillai are seeking a declaration that a public prosecutor is not empowered to institute or conduct any proceedings for an offence serving judges of a court and that investigations against Nazlan were unconstitutional. – May 8, 2022.