KUALA LUMPUR: Lawyer Datuk Mohd Zaid Ibrahim, together with his two partners, have demanded Malaysian Bar Council president Karen Cheah Yee Lynn to apologise and withdraw her media statement involving the defence team of Datuk Seri Najib Razak during the former prime minister's final appeal in the SRC International case.
Zaid, Liew Teck Huat and Rueben Mathiavanam, through a letter of demand issued by their law firm, Zaid Ibrahim Suflan TH Liew & Partners dated 26 Aug 2022, demanded Cheah to withdraw her statement and apologise before Sept 2 or face legal action.
Through the demand letter, the three lawyers claimed that Cheah's media statement issued on Aug 19 falsely and maliciously contained statements about their behaviour during Najib's appeal in the Federal Court.
They claimed that several paragraphs in Cheah's media statement were allegedly made in a reckless manner, disregarding whether the accusations were true.
The paragraph suggested the lawyers acted unprofessionally, abused the court process and used unprincipled strategies to pervert the justice system and bring the legal profession into disrepute.
The statement further suggests that the lawyer's actions were openly contemptuous of the court and were unsuitable to practice as defence lawyers and solicitors.
Besides an apology, the three lawyers involved urged Cheah to promise not to repeat such statements in addition to demanding compensation for reasonable costs and expenses.
Najib on July 25 appointed the Mohd Zaid law firm to replace Shafee & Co in the final appeal of the SRC International case at the Federal Court, with Hisyam Teh Poh Teik as the lead lawyer in place of Tan Sri Shafee Abdullah.
However, the Federal Court on Aug 23 upheld the conviction and sentence of 12 years in prison and a RM210 million fine imposed on Najib, who was found guilty of embezzling RM42 million in funds belonging to SRC International Sdn Bhd.