AGC to object to bids by Najib and Shafee to remove Sri Ram
The Attorney-General's Chambers indicated today that it will object to the separate applications from former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak and lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah to remove former Federal Court judge Gopal Sri Ram from leading the prosecution against them.
Senior federal counsel Shamsul Bolhassan indicated this when the cases of Najib and Shafee came up before Justice Azizah Nawawi today for the hearing of leave at the High Court in Kuala Lumpur...
The Attorney-General's Chambers indicated today that it will object to the separate applications from former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak and lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah to remove former Federal Court judge Gopal Sri Ram from leading the prosecution against them.
Senior federal counsel Shamsul Bolhassan indicated this when the cases of Najib and Shafee came up before Justice Azizah Nawawi today for the hearing of leave at the High Court in Kuala Lumpur.
Shamsul said the reason for their objection was the duplicity of applications made by the two at the criminal courts in Kuala Lumpur.
"Hence the judge wanted written submissions on this and fixed the afternoon of Jan 29 for the hearing for leave," he said.
Najib and Shafee filed separate applications to have Sri Ram removed from leading the prosecution against them.
Both parties named the attorney-general, Sri Ram and the government as respondents.
Shafee (photo), who is the main counsel for Najib, told reporters that the reason they were objecting to Sri Ram was that the former judge could not act as a lawyer and prosecutor at the same time.
"We have served papers to the AG's Chambers well in time and they indicated they will object to this application," he said.
"They also hinted in a broad manner that they may also raise some issue of mandamus (to compel) as a primary objection."
Shafee's lawyer Harvinderjit Singh said justice must be done and that Sri Ram cannot wear two hats.
"There are various grounds for the application as I cannot get into the content of the affidavit, but basically, we are saying if Sri Ram continues to act, it will directly impinge on the constitutional right of a fair trial.
"Justice must be done. We cannot have a position where we are questioning the prosecutor (on his appointment) itself," Harvinderjit told reporters.
Najib is facing 39 criminal charges, including money laundering, abuse of power and criminal breach of trust in relation to 1MDB, while Shafee is facing two charges of money laundering for receiving a total of RM9.5 million from Najib.
Najib and Shafee have also filed separate applications to remove Sri Ram as the prosecutor in the criminal cases before the High Court, where Justice Colin Lawrence Sequera has fixed Najib's application to be heard on Feb 8.
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