FORMER Federal Court judge Gopal Sri Ram is reported to be receiving treatment at Gleneagles Hospital, Kuala Lumpur, believed to be for a lung infection. 

However, it was said that the veteran lawyer’s condition was not due to Covid-19 as was previously rumoured. 

“It is due to a lung infection. The numerous rumours about Covid-19 are not true.

“We are concerned about his health due to his advanced age,” a source was quoted as saying by Malaysiakini.

Sri Ram, 79, is leading the prosecution in former prime minister Najib Razak’s ongoing 1MDB corruption trial.

In December, Najib applied to have Sri Ram disqualified from prosecuting him, only for the Federal Court to dismiss it.

Najib’s bid was based on a Facebook post by Mohamed Apandi Ali in 2020, which alleged that Sri Ram approached him in January 2018 while he was attorney-general, to ask him to arrest Najib.

Sri Ram was also the lead prosecutor in the RM1.25 billion solar hybrid project involving Najib’s wife, Rosmah Mansor, which saw her sentenced to 10 years in jail and fined RM970 million after being found guilty of corruption. 

Rosmah is currently appealing her conviction and the case is set to be heard in July. 

Sri Ram was appointed to lead the prosecution in these cases by Apandi’s successor, Tommy Thomas, in 2018.

Previously, Sri Ram also appeared for Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim as lead counsel in the Federal Court for the latter’s sodomy trial. – January 18, 2023.