Datuk Seri Najib leaves the Kuala Lumpur High Court April 4, 2022. — Picture by Devan Manuel
KUALA LUMPUR, May 6 — Activist Haris Ibrahim and two lawyers today filed a lawsuit against the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) to ultimately seek a declaration that its investigation on the trial judge in ex-prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s SRC International Sdn Bhd case is unconstitutional.
In a statement today, Haris and lawyers Nur Ain Mustapa and Sreekant Pillai said they named MACC chief commissioner Tan Sri Azam Baki, the MACC, and the government of Malaysia as respondents.
The trio said the lawsuit was filed in order to have the courts determine “important constitutional issues concerning the separation of powers and the independence of the judiciary” that have arisen as a result of the MACC’s investigation into a serving judge of the Court of Appeal.
The judge, Datuk Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali, had heard and delivered a guilty verdict in the High Court against Najib over the misappropriation of RM42 million of SRC International funds. The judge has since been elevated to be a Court of Appeal judge.
In the statement issued by the law firm Messrs Malik Imtiaz Sarwar on the trio’s behalf, the three said the lawsuit — filed through an originating summons — sought two main declarations.
The first was for a declaration that criminal investigation bodies including the MACC are not entitled to or are precluded from investigating serving judges (at the High Court, Court of Appeal and the Federal Court), unless where these judges are suspended or removed respectively in line with the Federal Constitution’s Article 125(5) or Article 125(3); and/or the public prosecutor is not empowered to institute or conduct any proceedings for an offence against such serving judges.
The second is for a declaration that the MACC’s investigation into the judge Mohd Nazlan is, consequently, “unconstitutional”.
As part of this main lawsuit, the trio had also filed an application at the High Court to refer two constitutional questions to the Federal Court, in relation to the court declarations that the trio were seeking in the main lawsuit.
The statement was issued on the trio’s instructions by their lawyer Datuk Malik Imtiaz Sarwar and their co-counsel Surendra Ananth.
Surendra confirmed to Malay Mail that both the lawsuit and the application to refer questions to the Federal Court were filed at the High Court in Kuala Lumpur earlier today. The court papers have yet to be served on the three respondents of the lawsuit.
Surendra confirmed that Haris — formerly a practising lawyer — intends to practise and has applied for a practising certificate, while confirming that Nur Ain was formerly a magistrate and former registrar of the High Court and Court of Appeal and is now a practising lawyer, and that Sreekant is also a practising lawyer.
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