Despite High Court judge Justice Kamaluddin Md Said having been transferred to Seremban, he will continue to hear the case involving Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s suit against Malaysiakini .

The news portal was informed of this on Feb 13, when the matter came up for case management in which deputy registrar Mazuliana Abdul Rashid informed both parties in the law suit that Justice Kamaluddin ( left ) would hear the case despite the transfer.

Following this, the law firm of Kandiah Partnership representing Malaysiakini sent a letter last Monday to Chief Judge of Malaya Justice Zulkefli Ahmad Makinudin, expressing the news portal’s surprise that the case is being heard before the same judge.

In the four-paragraph letter,  the law firm states this is “highly unusual, given that pleadings to this case had just been closed and case management for the matter had not yet been completed.

“Our client has no objection if the case is heard before another civil High Court judge,” the letter states, adding that it hopes to get Zulkefli’s explanation on the matter.

Judge promoted

Najib, who is Umno president, and Umno executive secretary Abdul Rauf Yusof filed a law suit on the comments by Malaysiakini readers in two articles on the short-lived Terengganu menteri besar imbroglio last year.

The two articles are ‘A case of the PM reaping what he sows’ and ‘How much will Najib spend to keep Terengganu?’

Mkini Dotcom Sdn Bhd, the operator of the news portal, had on June 24 last year applied for Kamaluddin to be recused from hearing the suit over concerns of bias as the legal action is initiated by Umno and it involved the ruling party and coalition.

The defendants are concerned that Kamaluddin, who was a judicial commissioner (JC) then, did not enjoy security of tenure since the confirmation of judicial commissioners as High Court judges may depend on Najib as the prime minister.

However, before the hearing for Malaysiakini’s application for recusal is heard, Justice Kamaluddin, formerly the Trials and Appeals division head in the Attorney-General’s Chambers, was confirmed after serving no more than two years as JC.