Bar Council to hold EGM over Intimidation of Judiciary.
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Loading... - Owen Graham
- 05 May 2022
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The Bar Council will hold an emergency general meeting (EGM) over matters pertaining to the alleged intimidation of the judiciary, its chairman Karen Cheah said.
In a statement to the media, she said that the full details of the EGM will be finalised next week and the statutory EGM notice will be issued on Thursday to all members of the Bar.
"We hope to see the attendance of members of the Bar across the nation including our past presidents, to express their thoughts on this issue and to vote on motions that would be significant to the future of our judiciary as an indispensable and crucial institution," said the president of the Malaysian Bar.
This has to do with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission's (MACC) investigation into Court of Appeal judge Datuk Mohd Nazlan Ghazali.
Nazlan was the judge who sentenced former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to 12 years in prison and slapped him with a RM210 million fine.
In a statement on April 21, the Federal Court chief registrar's office said Nazlan had denied the "false, baseless and malicious allegations", adding the allegations were aimed at undermining his credibility as an appellate court judge as well as disrupting the administration of criminal justice and the judiciary.
"The chief registrar's office takes such allegations and comments seriously and reminds the public that allegations against the judiciary aimed at interfering with cases that are in the process of trial are a violation of the principle of sub judice," it said.
Last week, it confirmed that Nazlan was being investigated over allegations of unexplained money in his bank account.
MACC chief commissioner Tan Sri Azam Baki said an investigation paper had been opened after reports were lodged against the judge.
MACC in a statement also defended its right to investigate the judge as it was in its jurisdiction to investigate any public official once a report is lodged against said public official.
Meanwhile, Cheah said that the Bar Council had an emergency meeting on April 29 to address the matter and decided to call the EGM on an urgent basis, in exercise of its statutory duties under the Legal Profession Act 1976.
"The upcoming EGM will discuss the possible options available to the Malaysian Bar, as well as to ventilate and debate on motions tabled by the Bar Council, as well as any other motions which we may receive seven days prior to the EGM by members of the Bar," she said.
"We hope to see the attendance of members of the Bar across the nation including our past presidents, to express their thoughts on this issue and to vote on motions that would be significant to the future of our judiciary as an indispensable and crucial institution, and let there be no repeat of attempts to undermine it, as was done during one of its darkest hours in 1988," she said. Read More...
