KUALA LUMPUR, July 10 — Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz today claimed that recently retired chief justice Tun Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat did not receive an extension of service because she publicly implied the prime minister had interfered in judicial appointments.

The former law minister said Tengku Maimun should have voiced such concerns privately instead of raising them during an international event, online news portal The Scoop reported.

"If you feel the prime minister has interfered, then the matter should have been handled quietly. You speak to the prime minister and tell him, ‘we feel you have interfered’. This should have been done behind closed doors, not in Malta!” he was quoted as saying.

At the 24th Commonwealth Law Conference in Malta in April, Tengku Maimun had said that removing the prime minister’s role in judicial appointments could help address perceptions of political influence in the judiciary.

Malaysia’s first woman chief justice also disclosed that recent proposals included amending the Judicial Appointments Commission Act 2009 and the Federal Constitution to remove the prime minister’s role in the process.