Hundreds of Malaysian lawyers gather to protest probe of senior judge

Hundreds of Malaysian lawyers gathered at Malaysia’s capital Kuala Lumpur on Friday (June 17) to demand judicial independence as they protested against the authorities’ treatment of a senior judge who had previously convicted former premier Najib Razak.

Organized by the Malaysian Bar, more than 300 lawyers gathered at Padang Merbok on Friday morning, although they were prevented from marching to Parliament building by police officers who ringfenced the Padang.

The lawyers are protesting a probe by Malaysia’s anti-graft body, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) against Justice Nazlan Mohd Ghazali, a Court of Appeal judge. The 13-year-old anti-graft agency rarely investigates judges, and the probe has stirred debate about MACC’s powers in investigating sitting judges.

As a High Court judge in 2020, he convicted Najib of corruption relating to the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) scandal. Najib is currently appealing his conviction at the Federal Court, Malaysia’s highest court.

MACC launched its investigation into Justice Nazlan in April following allegations by a fugitive blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin that the former had RM1 million (S$315,000) in unexplained funds in his bank account.

The allegations were denied by the judge, who lodged a police report against Raja Petra’s allegations, calling them baseless.

MACC said it concluded its investigation last month but has not revealed its outcome.

Critics have charged that the probe was an attempt to discredit Justice Nazlan, who sentenced Najib to 12 years’ imprisonment and also convicted another former Umno minister Isa Samad of corruption in 2021.

MACC’s investigation comes months before Najib is due to have his final appeal heard at the Federal Court, after the Court of Appeal last year upheld Justice Nazlan’s conviction of Najib.

Lawyers have argued that the probe into a sitting judge constituted a breach of judicial independence, and went against the tenet of separation of powers between the executive and the judiciary.

The commission is under the government, as there have been repeated calls for the agency to be placed under Parliament directly in order to ensure its independence.

Friday’s protest was initially supposed to be a march to Parliament from Padang Merbok, but the lawyers were unable to go through with the planned march after hundreds of police officers blocked all pathways leading out of the public field, effectively forcing the gathering to be confined.

Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Mas Ermieyati Samsudin, who was scheduled to receive the lawyers’ memorandum in Parliament, later went to Padang Merbok to receive the Malaysian Bar’s demands.

The memorandum had four demands for the government: to uphold judicial independence, to preserve public confidence in the judicial system, condemn the actions of MACC; and legislative reforms to ensure alleged judicial misconducts can be investigated in a manner that preserves confidence in the judiciary.

Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob later on Friday said that the government guaranteed judicial independence, without making any specific reference to the protest or Justice Nazlan.

“As someone with a background in law, I respect the doctrine of the separation of powers (between the executive, legislative, and the judiciary). Therefore, I do not want a conflict between the executive body and the judiciary as occurred in the past to repeat again,” he reportedly said during the Universiti Malaya Law Faculty Golden Jubilee.

“In regards to this matter, the government guarantees that the freedom of the judiciary and legislative body will continue to be preserved.”

SOURCE: NEW AGENCIES