KUALA LUMPUR: The appointment of the highest judicial offices in July 2018, was not made according to the names selected by the Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC).
This was among the findings by the Special Task Force (STF) which investigated allegations made by former attorney-general Tan Sri Tommy Thomas in his memoirs entitled "My Story: Justice in the Wilderness."
In the recently declassified report, the appointment of Tan Sri Richard Malanjum as Chief Justice, Tan Sri Ahmad Maarop as the Court of Appeal President, and Tan Sri David Wong Dak Wah as Chief Judge Sabah and Sarawak differ from the candidates submitted to fill the said posts by JAC at its meeting held on May 24, 2018.
STF said the names were agreed upon by the then Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Thomas, along with the appointment of Tan Sri Zaharah Ibrahim as Chief Judge of Malaya.
This, following the resignation of Tun Raus Sharif as Chief Justice and Tan Sri Zulkefli Ahmad Makinudin as Court of Appeal President in June 2018.
"These names differ from the names selected by the JAC at its meeting and conveyed to the prime minister."
The report said the names selected by JAC were Tan Sri Azahar Mohammed as Chief Justice, Tan Sri Rohana Yusuf as Court of Appeal President, and Datuk Abdul Rahman Sebili as Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak.
"If the prime minister disagreed with the selection and recommendation of the JAC pursuant to Section 27 of the JAC Act, he should have requested more names for each of the vacant judicial positions.
"There is no evidence before the STF that he had made such a request.
"Instead, from the report of the Cabinet, Constitution and Intergovernmental Relations Division (BKPP), the names submitted by the prime minister when he tendered his advice to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong were the names discussed and agreed upon between the prime minister (Mahathir) and the attorney-general (Thomas).
Regarding the appointment of David Wong as Chief Judge of the High Court in Sabah and Sarawak, STF said there was no consultation with the Chief Ministers of Sabah and Sarawak, based on facts disclosed by BKPP.