The Court of Appeal adjourned a defamation appeal by three lawyers against the Malaysian Bar after one judge recused herself to avoid any negative perception.
PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal today adjourned the hearing of an appeal by three lawyers, including Datuk Zaid Ibrahim, seeking to overturn a High Court decision dismissing their defamation suit against the Malaysian Bar.
The hearing was postponed after one of the three judges on the panel, Datuk Seri Latifah Mohd Tahar, recused herself from the case.
At the outset of the proceedings, Justice Latifah disclosed that her husband, Datuk Azmi Mohd Ali, is a Bar Council member, and asked counsel for both parties whether they had any objections to her sitting on the panel alongside Justices Datuk Dr Choo Kah Sing and Datuk Faizah Jamaludin.
Counsel Ashok Kandiah, representing Zaid, Liew Teck Huat and Rueben Mathiavaranam, as well as the Malaysian Bar’s counsel Andrew Chiew Ean Vooi, requested a brief adjournment to seek instructions from their respective clients.
When proceedings resumed, both counsels informed the court that their clients had no concerns over Justice Latifah’s impartiality.
However, Ashok submitted that it would be preferable for Justice Latifah to recuse herself to avoid any negative perception. Chiew agreed, saying justice must not only be done but must also be seen to be done.
Justice Choo then said the court was unable to proceed because the panel no longer had the required quorum and fixed July 13 for case management to set a new hearing date before a differently constituted panel.
On May 29 last year, the High Court dismissed the suit filed by Zaid, Liew and Rueben against the Malaysian Bar and its former president, Karen Cheah Yee Lynn, after finding they had failed to prove the statements in question were defamatory.
The defamation suit was filed by the three lawyers over alleged statements made by the Malaysian Bar that they had abused and defamed the justice system while handling former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak’s final appeal in the SRC International Sdn Bhd fund case.
On July 26, 2022, Najib appointed Messrs Zaid Ibrahim Suflan TH Liew & Partners (ZIST) to represent him in his final appeal before the Federal Court after terminating the services of Messrs Shafee & Co. However, he discharged ZIST less than a month later, on Aug 19, 2022.
Najib has been serving his sentence at Kajang Prison since Aug 23, 2022, after the Federal Court upheld his conviction for misappropriating RM42 million of SRC International funds.
He was originally sentenced to 12 years’ imprisonment and fined RM210 million, but following a royal pardon petition filed on Sept 2, 2022, his prison term was reduced to six years and his fine to RM50 million.
