NAJIB Razak’s lawyers’ argument to recuse Chief Justice Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat from hearing the final appeal of the SRC International trial had no merit, prosecutor V. Sithambaram said. 

Sithambaram said a social media post by Tengku Maimun’s husband, Zamani Ibrahim, in 2018 would not have influenced the judge.

“They (defence lawyers) said the Facebook posting might influence the judge (Tengku Maimun).

“But the truth of the matter is that SRC was an independent government-linked company under the Finance Ministry.

“No way the posting would have influenced the chief justice’s thinking in dealing with the case,” he said at the Federal Court in Putrajaya today. 

The Federal Court is hearing Najib’s application to review the Federal Court’s dismissal of his appeal against his conviction and sentence for corruption.

The application for recusal was made just before the apex court was to hear Najib’s final appeal in August last year.

Tengku Maimun rejected the application, ruling there was no link between her husband’s Facebook post and the case.

“To recuse a judge is a real danger of bias. It is my view that the test has not been established. The Facebook post by my husband cannot amount to a real danger of bias,” she had said.

Zamani had posted about Barisan Nasional’s defeat in the 2018 general election under the leadership of its chairman Najib.

Sithambaram said that the judges presiding over the SRC case had also affirmed that there was no cause for recusal. 

“What the chief justice’s husband said was public knowledge,” he said.

“It had nothing to do with the SRC trial. His (Zamani) statement was made in 2018.”

Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Abdul Rahman Sebli, who is leading the five-man bench hearing the case, asked if Sithambaram had challenged the facts of recusal as made by the defence team and called Zamani to explain. 

Sithambaram said he did not as the recusal application had nothing to do with the SRC appeal trial. 

Najib last year filed a motion to review the SRC ruling on grounds the court had breached the principles of natural justice, including his right to fair trial and to counsel.

He is seeking to overturn his guilty verdict as well as his 12-year jail sentence and RM210 million fine for stealing RM42 million of SRC International’s money. – February 27, 2023.