Judicial interference: No official investigation made as judges have retired

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KUALA LUMPUR: The judiciary cannot made an official investigation on retired top judges over allegations of judicial interference in the unilateral conversion case of M.Indira Gandhi’s children and Karpal Singh’s sedition appeal as the judges have retired.

The office of the Chief Justice, in a press release, said since the senior judges concerned were no longer members of the judiciary, an official investigation could not be conducted under the provisions of the Judges’ Ethics Committee Act 2010 and the Judges’ Code of Ethics 2009 by the Chief Justice into the alleged misconduct of the retired judges.

Referring to a case involving Court of Appeal Judge Datuk Dr Hamid Sultan Abu Backer, who disclosed, when delivering a paper entitled ‘The Judiciary as the Principal Guardians of the Rule of Law’ at the International Malaysia Law Conference held on Aug 16, 2018 here, on how he was “severely reprimanded by a top Judge alleging inter alia of judicial activism”.

Justice Hamid said the “top Judge’ was the chairman of the panel of judges in the hearing of Indira Gandhi case by the Court of Appeal in January 2016.

He also disclosed that ‘the senior Judge threw tantrums at me in an uncivilised manner”.

The Malaysian judiciary views these allegations of judicial interference by any judge as serious transgressions of the law and ethics,” said the statement, adding that an internal investigation into the allegations was carried out by the judiciary and all relevant parties were requested to give their views on the alleged incident.

It said that after due consideration, it was found that there were varying accounts given, hence the Malaysian judiciary was not in a position to make a definitive finding on the allegations by Justice Hamid.

In Karpal Singh’s case, the statement said a police report was lodged by a member of the Bar that there was also judicial interference by a top judge in the case.

It said as the allegation concerned a judge who had since retired, the judiciary similarly could not carry out an investigation under the Judges’ Ethics Committee Act 2010 and the Judges’ Code of Ethics 2009.

“However, in view of the serious allegation made, the Malaysian judiciary conducted an internal investigation, which has since been suspended due to police investigations into the case and also because the appeal at the Federal Court is still pending.

“This is to ensure that there is no prejudice caused to the ongoing police investigation, as well as the pending appeal to the Federal Court,” it said.

The judiciary, however, wished to reiterate that it was not acceptable for any judge to be subjected to any reprimand by any of his or her “seniors” for the views expressed in any decision.

It said the decision-making process of any judge is left entirely within his or her domain and could not be subjected to any influence by anyone within or outside the judiciary.

“Any such reprimand runs contrary to the notion of independence enjoyed by every judge in the Judiciary.

The Malaysian Judiciary will not countenance any judicial interference of whatsoever nature by anyone, especially by judges in the disposal of cases before the court,” it said. — Bernama