PUTRAJAYA: Former Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak filed a request to the court to disqualify Tun Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat from his final appeal hearing.
He said he was worried that the Chief Justice would be influenced by her husband’s negative sentiments towards him.
According to the affidavit filed together with the notice of motion yesterday, Najib said on 11 May 2018, an individual named Zamani Ibrahim had made a post on his Facebook criticizing the Pekan Member of Parliament, Utusan Malaysia Reported.
The Facebook post was only known to Najib on August 17.
“I truly believe that the individual Zamani Ibrahim named above is the husband of the Chief Justice, Tun Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat who is the chairman of the panel of judges who are currently hearing my final appeal in the SRC case at the Federal Court.
“Because he is the husband of the chairman of the panel of judges who heard my appeal, it is likely that he will influence the chairman’s thinking on the accusations of my guilt.
“I further state that due to the nature of their husband-wife relationship, it is possible that the thinking of the wise chairman may have been influenced without him realizing it through the sentiments of the Chief Justice’s husband towards me,” said Najib in his application.
The former UMNO President also stated that if Judge Tengku Maimun continues to lead the panel of appeal judges in the end, any decision or finding made by the Court will raise doubts among the community.
“Observers (also) think that the decisions made are tainted with bias and the public view of the independence of the judiciary will be doubted.
If the application is allowed, a new panel of judges will be appointed to hear and decide on Najib’s final appeal.
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