KUALA LUMPUR, June 16 — High Court judge Datuk Wan Ahmad Farid Wan Salleh today voluntarily recused himself from hearing London-based Queen’s Counsel, Jonathan Laidlaw’s application to be allowed to practise here in order to lead Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s defence in a final criminal appeal.
While no objection was raised against him hearing the case, Wan Ahmad Farid said he was removing himself to avoid any unnecessary criticism against the judiciary, due to his past role as a politician and because a family member is a division leader in Najib’s Umno party.
Wan Ahmad Farid said it was public knowledge that he had been an active politician, a lawmaker in the Dewan Negara, and a member of the administration before becoming a judge
Wan Ahmad Farid was formerly an Umno member and had at one point been a deputy home minister.
“For the record, on the eve of my elevation to the bench, I had resigned from the political party that I used to be a member of. And I must add that, after taking my oath as a member of the judiciary, my only sacred duty is to preserve, protect and defend the Federal Constitution without fear or favour.
“However, I have also to put on record that one of my immediate family members is a very active politician and a divisional leader in the same political party as my appellant,” he said.
While stressing that his approach as a judge in deciding the issues before him had always been based purely and strictly on the law and following precedent by other courts while rejecting any political or emotional elements, Wan Ahmad Farid said he did not want his impartiality to be called into doubt.
“It would invite unnecessary criticisms that would compromise the integrity of the judiciary,” he said.
Wan Ahmad Farid stressed that the public perception of the independence of the judiciary must be beyond reproach and not something with which to be trifled.
“An independent judiciary is a precious gift to any society. Once it is lost, anarchy reigns. The independence of the judiciary must therefore be defended at any costs,” he said.
“For the reasons aforesaid, although there was no request made by any of the parties herein, I am recusing myself from hearing this originating motion,” he said today during a case management for the application.
Laidlaw filed an application on May 31 at the High Court in Kuala Lumpur to be admitted under Section 18(1) of the Legal Profession Act to practise in Malaysia as Najib wants to hire him for the final SRC appeal at the Federal Court, claiming to “possess special qualifications, experience and expertise which is not available” among lawyers in Malaysia.
Laidlaw is a Queen’s Counsel in the UK, a term typically referring to senior lawyers in the UK who handle more complex cases.
Today was scheduled to be the case management of Laidlaw’s application before Wan Ahmad Farid.
At the start of the case management, the judge had asked if any of the parties had reservations on him continuing to hear the case.
Laidlaw’s lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah saying he has “absolutely no reservation at all” as he did not know of the judge's involvement in any related matters or cases.
Datuk V. Sithambaram, the lead prosecutor in the SRC case who appeared on behalf of the prosecution, then said he needed to take instructions from the Attorney-General’s Chambers.
Datuk Bastian Vendargon who represented the Malaysian Bar similarly said he would have to refer this to the Bar Council to take a stand, while Vivek Sukumaran who represented the Kuala Lumpur Bar Committee similarly said he would have to refer this issue to the bar committee first before taking a stand.
While none of these lawyers had today objected to him handling this case, Wan Ahmad Farid still proceeded to remove himself from hearing Laidlaw’s case.
Following Wan Ahmad Farid’s decision to recuse himself, he then conveyed his decision to the managing judge.
Following a short break, Wan Ahmad Farid said the managing judge had sought instructions from the chief judge of Malaya, who had directed for this case to be transferred to be heard by High Court judge Datuk Ahmad Kamal Md Shahid.
This case was then transferred to be heard before Ahmad Kamal, who immediately carried out case management and who then fixed July 6 as the hearing date for Laidlaw’s application.
The Federal Court is scheduled to hear Najib’s SRC appeal over a period of 10 days from August 15 to August 19, and from August 22 to August 26.
This SRC appeal at the Federal Court will be the last appeal that Najib can pursue, since his conviction was at the High Court in July 2020 and his previous appeal at the Court of Appeal was unanimously dismissed by a three-judge panel on December 8, 2021.
Najib on December 8, 2021 filed an appeal to the Federal Court, and this is the appeal that the highest court in Malaysia is scheduled to hear in August.
Ahead of this final appeal hearing in August, Najib had also on June 7 applied to the Federal Court to add on purported further evidence that he claimed to have discovered recently, and is seeking for his entire trial for the SRC case in the High Court to be declared null and void and for a retrial.
