FORMER prime minister Najib Razak’s appeal to reinstate his wrongful prosecution suit against former attorney-general (AG) Tommy Thomas was deferred today after Court of Appeal judge Azizah Nawawi recused herself from hearing the case.

Azizah was to have chaired a three-member bench to hear the appeal but recused herself after she disclosed that her husband, former deputy public prosecutor Nik Suhaimi Nik Sulaiman, used to work under Thomas, who he was AG from 2018 to 2020. Nik Sulaiman has since retired.

“I wish to make a disclosure. During the time that the respondent (Thomas) was AG, my husband Nik Suhaimi was in the Attorney-General’s Chambers,” the judge said.

The court adjourned for 10 minutes after which Najib’s lawyer, Firoz Hussein Ahmad Jamaludin, informed the panel that Najib wished for Azizah to withdraw from hearing the appeal.

Lawyer Alan Adrian Gomez, who is representing Thomas, said there was no need for Azizah to recuse herself because there was no real danger of bias.

He told the panel, which included judges See Mee Chun and Lim Chong Fong, that this was similar to an earlier case involving Chief Justice Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat, who dismissed Najib’s bid for her to recuse herself from hearing his appeal to quash his conviction in the RM42 million SRC International corruption case.

Najib is currently serving a 12-year jail sentence after he was convicted in the SRC case.

The Court of Appeal then set case management next week to decide on who to constitute a new bench to hear Najib’s appeal. – October 4, 2023.