CJ denies judge in Khairuddin, Chang case was punished

comments     Published     Updated

The judge who granted former Batu Kawan Umno division vice-chief Khairuddin Abu Hassan and his lawyer Matthias Chang bail was not transferred as a punishment, Chief Justice Ariffin Zakaria said.

Instead, the head of the judiciary said, High Court judge Mohd Azman Husin was transferred to the High Court in Shah Alam to speed up the disposal of cases.

“We have almost 400 criminal cases in the Shah Alam High Court. It is not a punishment,” Justice Ariffin told The Star .

“It is nothing abnormal. We need more experienced judges in certain courts to speed up the disposal of cases. It is also because of the elevation of judges to the appellate courts and appointment of judicial commissioners," he said.

Chief Judge of Malaya Zulkefli Ahmad Makinudin also told the English daily that the “reshuffle exercise of the year” was normal.

Justice Azman, along with 12 other High Court judges or judicial commissioners, were transferred effective Jan 1, following a circular dated Dec 7 and agreed to by Chief Justice Arifin.

On Nov 18, Justice Azman ruled that the charges against Chang, a former political secretary to Dr Mahathir Mohamad, and Khairuddin, for allegedly sabotaging financial services, do not fall under Sosma as it does not come within the ambit of Article 149 (1) of the Federal Constitution where the Sosma law was enacted by Parliament.

Justice Azman ordered that Khairuddin and Chang be therefore be tried at the Sessions Court and not in the High Court. However, this decision has gone to the Court of Appeal.

While some have remarked that the transfer was unusual, Malaysiakini has, in the past, noted that there have been transfers of High Court judges from Kuala Lumpur to the other states.



Malaysiakini
news and views that matter


Sign In