KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court has dismissed former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak’s application to recuse Justice Alice Loke Yee Ching from presiding over his judicial review regarding an alleged house arrest addendum.
Justice Loke found the grounds for recusal, based on apparent bias, to be unfounded in her ruling delivered today.
She clarified that her previous decision regarding the duty of candour was made in the context of a separate contempt proceedings application against former Attorney-General Tan Sri Ahmad Terrirudin Mohd Salleh.
“I was of the view that the duty of candour was not applicable at that stage, so the issue of my earlier finding causing bias should not arise,“ she stated.
The court had previously dismissed Najib’s application for leave to commence committal proceedings against Ahmad Terrirudin on September 4.
Justice Loke ruled that the applicant had failed to establish a prima facie case for contempt in those proceedings.
Najib’s counsel Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah informed the court that his client instructed him to seek the judge’s recusal citing apparent bias following her ruling in the committal proceedings.
Senior federal counsel Shamsul Bolhassan, representing the respondents, objected to the request stating it should have been brought through a formal application.
The High Court convened today to hear Najib’s application for leave to amend his judicial review pleadings to adduce additional evidence.
He seeks to introduce a supporting affidavit from his son Datuk Mohd Nizar exhibiting a letter dated January 4, 2025, signed by the Pengelola Bijaya Di-Raja from the Office of the Sultan of Pahang.
This letter purportedly confirms the authenticity of a copy of the Addendum Order authorising house arrest.
The Court fixed September 19 for the delivery of its ruling on the amendment application and scheduled the substantive hearing of the judicial review for November 24.
On August 13, the Federal Court remitted the case to the High Court for a hearing on its merits before a new judge after dismissing the Attorney General’s application for leave to appeal.
Najib is seeking a mandamus order compelling the respondents to confirm and disclose the existence of the purported document dated January 29, 2024.
The named respondents include the Home Minister, Commissioner-General of Prisons, Attorney-General, Pardons Board, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Director-General of the Legal Affairs Division, and the Government of Malaysia.
The former Pekan MP also seeks an order that if the additional document exists, the respondents be compelled to enforce it immediately and transfer him from Kajang Prison to his residence.
On July 3 last year, High Court Judge Datuk Amarjeet Singh dismissed Najib’s initial application for leave to commence judicial review proceedings.
The judge ruled that four supporting affidavits, including statements from UMNO president Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and vice president Datuk Seri Wan Rosdy Wan Ismail, constituted hearsay and were inadmissible as evidence.
Najib has been serving his sentence at Kajang Prison since August 23, 2022, following his conviction for misappropriating RM42 million from SRC International Sdn Bhd.
The High Court initially sentenced him to 12 years in prison and fined him RM210 million, with the decision upheld by the Court of Appeal and Federal Court.
His petition for a royal pardon on September 2, 2022, resulted in the Pardons Board halving his prison sentence to six years and reducing his fine to RM50 million. – Bernama