Another judicial commissioner recuses herself from hearing 1MDB suit

KUALA LUMPUR, June 4 — Another High Court Judicial Commissioner here has recused herself from presiding over 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) and four other entities’ lawsuit against former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and 14 other individuals.

Lawyer Siva Kumar Kanagasabai, from Messrs Skrine, representing 1MDB, said this when contacted after the proceedings to hear 1MDB’s application for Judicial Commissioner (JC) Adlin Abdul Majid’s withdrawal from presiding over the case, held virtually today.

“Yang Arif Adlin has withdrawn from presiding over the case as she was a partner at Messrs Lee Hishamuddin Allen & Gledhill (LHAG) at the same time when lawyers Datuk DP Naban dan Rosli Dahlan were partners at LHAG from January 2005 to February 2020.

“They (DP Naban and Rosli) will act as counsel in this case along with lawyers from Messrs Skrine,” said Siva Kumar.

On June 1, High Court JC Liza Chan Sow Keng recused herself from presiding 1MDB’s lawsuit against law firm Messrs Wong & Partners and SRC International Sdn Bhd’s lawsuit against Datuk Seri Najib Razak and six others.

On May 7, 1MDB and its subsidiaries, 1MDB Energy Holdings Limited, 1MDB Energy Limited, 1MDB Energy (Langat) Limited and Global Diversified Investment Company Limited, formerly known as 1MDB Global Investments Limited, as plaintiffs filed a suit against Najib and 1MDB former directors, namely Tan Sri Che Lodin Wok Kamaruddin, Tan Sri Ismee Ismail, Tan Sri Ong Gim Huat and Ashvin Jethanand Valiram.

Also named as defendants were former 1MDB chief executive officers Datuk Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi and Mohd Hazem Abdul Rahman, former 1MDB chief financial officers Azmi Tahir and Radhi Mohamad and former 1MDB officers Terence Geh Choh Heng, Jasmine Loo Ai Swan, Casey Tang Keng Chee, Vincent Beng Huat Koh, Kelvin Tan Kay Jin and Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil.

In their writ of summons, the plaintiffs claimed, among others, that the defendants had committed breach of trust, violated their statutory duties, abused their power, conspired and misappropriated 1MDB funds.

In a separate High Court, Judge Datuk Ahmad Fairuz Zainol Abidin set July 1 for case management of SRC International Sdn Bhd’s suit against Najib and six others for alleged breach of trust and breach of statutory duty in relation to the RM4 billion Retirement Fund Inc (KWAP) loan to SRC.

On May 10, the Finance Ministry confirmed that 1MDB and SRC had filed a total of 22 civil suits to recover assets worth more than RM96.6 billion, including about RM300 million from various local parties. — Bernama