Judges may have to declare assets soon — CJ

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Tan Sri Arifin Zakaria

PUTRAJAYA: Judges may have to declare their assets soon, to ensure greater transparency and integrity within the judiciary, said Chief Justice (CJ) Tan Sri Arifin Zakaria yesterday.

He said the judiciary will work together with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) on the matter.

“One thing I’m thinking of is to have a declaration of our assets, for all judges to declare their assets,” he said during a speech at the opening of a four-day judges conference, here.

He said once the declaration was made, the next course of action was up to the MACC.

“I’m sure all of you have nothing to fear, so we have to work together with MACC on this matter,” he said. The CJ also reminded judges to maintain judicial independence and not put up with any interference in reaching their verdicts, be it from the executive or their spouses.

“But there are other interferences, one of them may be your spouse. So make sure there’re no discussions, that’s the biggest interference which comes quietly in the middle of the night,” he said to laughter from the audience.

On a serious note Arifin added judges must be truly independent from all interferences including from friends and other judges.

As to judgments, he called on them to come up with sound judgments as they have been given ample time and guidelines on the area. He said the judiciary would take serious action if judges did not perform to expected levels.

Arifin went on to remark that the appointment and promotion of judges and judicial commissioners through the Judicial Appointments Commission was not an easy task as the panel had to look into various factors including the judges’ judgments.

So far, the panel has confirmed the satisfactory performance of some judges but as for the rest, they have to work hard, he said.

As to his announcement on all Federal Court criminal and civil appeals to be heard by a five-man quorum effective this month, at the Opening of the Legal Year 2012 on Saturday, Arifin said five was a better figure which would allow for good rationale to be applied in the judgment. — Bernama