KUALA LUMPUR, July 6 — The Federal Court Chief Registrar clarified today that the judge assigned to hear Datuk Seri Najib Razak's prosecution was selected randomly through a computerised system.
In a statement, the office of chief registrar Datuk Seri Latifah Mohd Tahar said all criminal cases at the High Court and subordinate courts in Kuala Lumpur have to be registered through the court's online system from June 13, 2017, which will randomly assign the cases to the courtrooms available.
“This registration process began when the Public Prosecutor filed their cases using the e-Filing system, which then distributes the cases at random to judges who handle criminal cases,” it said.
Najib's case, assigned to Criminal High Court 3 before Justice Datuk Mohd Sophian Abdul Razak, was selected at random by the court system when it was filed at the Duta Court Complex two days ago.
Controversy arose after New Straits Times first reported on Wednesday that the judge to be the younger brother of a Pahang Umno member Datuk Seri Mohd Soffi Abdul Razak.
Najib’s family hails from Pahang, and he is still the Pekan Umno division leader.
Malaysian Bar president George Varughese subsequently urged the judge to recuse himself from the trial.
Najib has been charged with three counts, including abuse of power and criminal breach of trust with SRC International’s funds amounting to RM42 million.
