Court throws out Najib’s judicial review application

KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court has thrown out a judicial review application by former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak to remove Datuk Seri Gopal Sri Ram as a prosecutor but ruled that the matter should be heard in the criminal court.

Justice Azizah Nawawi dismissed the judicial review by Najib, and a similar one by his lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, who is also facing a case where Sri Ram is the DPP.

They were also applying for a court order to force the Attorney General’s Chambers to disclose Sri Ram’s appointment letter.

In making the decision in chambers, the judge ruled that the application was an arguable case that merits leave for substantive hearing.

Commenting on the AG’s refusal to give the letter of appointment on the basis that the applicants have no right to a copy, Justice Azizah called the reasoning “simplistic” and “baffling”.

“Surely there must be a legal or constitutional reason for the rejection,” she said, adding that case law states there is no issue of the letter being under the Official Secrets Act.

She said there is also merit in the application seeking to declare the appointment of Sri Ram as ultra vires (beyond the powers) the laws of the country.

Despite the merits, Justice Azizah ruled that as a matter of convenience the application should be heard only in the criminal court where the main trial was being heard.

She noted that both courts have concurrent jurisdiction, disagreeing with the AGC’s argument that there was multiplicity of proceedings.

She made no order as to cost.

The AGC represented by Senior Federal Counsel Shamsul Bolhassan had filed a preliminary objection that there was overlap in the application, as Najib and Muhammad Shafee had made similar ones before the civil and criminal courts and cited the same grounds.

Muhammad Shafee’s lawyer Harvinderjit Singh argued that the applications were different as the issue before the civil court was on whether the appointment of Sri Ram by the AGC as Senior Deputy Public Prosecutor was legitimate.

Meanwhile, the issue at the High Court was an application to recuse Sri Ram from handling the cases.

Najib and Muhammad Shafee separately filed to the civil court for judicial review in December last year, seeking an order to disqualify the AGC’s decision to not submit to them a copy of Sri Ram’s appointment letter.

They were also seeking to revoke or recuse the appointment of Sri Ram on grounds it was ultra vires of the public prosecutor, and sought a declaration that there was a conflict of interest in the appointment.

They also requested for an order to prohibit Sri Ram from leading the prosecution team in all their cases, including on corruption, abuse of power and money laundering.