KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court has fixed Wednesday for decision of a leave application by Datuk Seri Najib Razak and senior lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah application to challenge the government fiat (mandate) appointing Datuk Seri Gopal Sri Ram as the lead prosecutor in their corruption case.
High Court judge Datuk Azizah Nawawi fixed the date after hearing submissions from parties in chambers today.
The court will also decide on a preliminary objection (PO) raised by senior federal counsel Shamsul Bolhassan, who acted for the government.
In the PO, Shamsul said the applications should go back to the criminal court to be heard as there will be multiplicity of actions since there is also a motion at the criminal court on similar issues.
“We are against the multiplicity of actions, so the applications should go back to the criminal court to be heard,” he said.
Meanwhile, counsel Harvinderjit Singh, who represented Shafee, said the issues dealt with in the applications in the civil court and the criminal court were different.
“In the civil court, the issue goes on the validity or properness of the Attorney-General Chambers’ (AGC) decision to appoint Sri Ram as the senior DPP and the second issue is on the prosecution’s refusal to give us Sri Ram’s letter of appointment.
“In the criminal court we are dealing with the issue of recusal or disqualification on whether it is proper for a person like Sri Ram to continue dealing with the matter,” he said.
Najib who is the former prime minister and Shafee have filed their application for leave to initiate a judicial review to challenge the appointment of Sri Ram as the lead prosecutor in December last year.
On Sept 20 last year, the Pekan member of parliament was slapped with 25 corruption charges involving RM2.3 billion allegedly from 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB).
His first four charges were framed under Section 23 (1) and 24 (1) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act 2009 while the other 21 charges were under Section 4 (1) (a) of the Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorism Financing Act 2001 (AMLATFA).
In the charges under the MACC Act, Najib, 64, was accused of using his position as prime minister, finance minister and chairman of 1MDB advisory board, to receive bribes on four occasions.
The money-laundering charges include nine counts of receiving illegal proceeds, five counts of using illegal proceeds and seven counts of transferring the proceeds to other entities.
Meanwhile, on Sept 13, the same year, Shafee was charged with two counts of money laundering relating to a RM9.5 million payment he received from Najib on Sept 13, 2013 and Feb 17, 2014.
He was also charged under the Income Tax Act with two counts of making false declarations to the Inland Revenue Board for not including the RM9.5 million in his tax filing for the year.