JULY 8 — The G25 wholeheartedly supports the call by the President of the Bar Council  for Justice Mohd Sofian Abdul Razak , the judge hearing the case against the former Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak, to recuse himself from hearing the case. 

This is because of the failure of the judge to disclose the fact that his brother, Dato’ Seri Mohd Soffi Abdul Razak, is a member of UMNO and the Pahang state executive councillor, as well as the assemblyman for the Pahang state constituency of Benta. 

Given that the former prime minister was until recently the president of UMNO and chairman of Barisan National and is himself a member of Parliament from Pahang, the judge ought to have disclosed his relationship to his brother and the latter’s position in UMNO and the Pahang state government to the prosecution and the defence prior to the hearing.

Judicial precedents have established that a judge must disclose any kind of connection in a case before  him to all parties at the outset and should let the parties decide whether to ask him to recuse or not. The judge in this case did not do so.  With respect, we are of the view that this  is highly inappropriate.

We fully agree with the President of the Bar Council that it is trite law that justice must not only be done but must be seen to be done. We align ourselves  with the reasons eloquently elucidated by the Bar Council President for Justice  Mohd Sofian to recuse himself from this high profile case.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail.