Kuala Lumpur: Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has called out the Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission (MACC) for investigating Court of Appeal Judge Datuk Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali over an unexplained RM1 million found in the latter’s bank account.
The Port Dickson MP said the judiciary has its own body that is capable of being the check and balance for judges.
“However, I would like to emphasise that the judiciary itself has a body that oversees and controls the integrity of judges and this is set to ensure that there is a clear division of powers in the existing system.
“Therefore, the MACC’s intervention violates this principle,” the PKR president said in a statement . He added that such announcements might be considered as pressure or political interference.
It was reported that Mohd Nazlan, who was the judge who delivered the guilty verdict in former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s SRC trial at the High Court in July 2020, was under investigation by the MACC over the contents of his bank account. Nazlan was elevated to the position of Court of Appeal judge in February 2022.
Following the High Court’s July 2020 decision, which found Najib guilty over the misappropriation of SRC funds totalling RM42 million, the Court of Appeal’s three-judge panel on December 8, 2021 also unanimously upheld Najib’s conviction, fine and jail sentencing.
Two days ago, Nazlan lodged a police report over false allegations made against him in a blog post. The April 20 article by blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin on the blog Malaysia Today carried the title “Judge Mohd Nazlan being investigated for unexplained RM1 million in his bank account”.
The judiciary via the Office of the Chief Registrar of the Federal Court said Nazlan deemed the article as malicious in intent and filled with baseless claims.24why
DAP chairman Lim Guan Eng questioned the authorities over what he perceived as a lack of effort to bring fugitive Malaysian blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin back for investigation over his many questionable allegations published online.
“Even though RPK is hiding in London, he should be asked to return to subject himself to be thoroughly investigated. If RPK refuses to return and if there are sufficient grounds for criminal charges to be filed then RPK should be extradited,” Lim said.
Raja Petra has been on the run from Malaysian law since April 2009 when he failed to turn up in court for his sedition trial over an open letter on the then Perak constitutional crisis. He is widely believed to be living in the UK.
MACC chief Tan Sri Azam Baki told The Star that investigations into the allegation started after the commission received a complaint and not because of the online allegations.
Lim questioned the MACC’s failure to act as speedily in looking into the proxy trading allegations against Azam in which his name was used by his brother Nasir Baki to purchase millions of shares in two public listed companies back in 2015.
Azam denied the allegations and the Securities Commission (SC) cleared the MACC chief of violating trading laws in January.
