Time for Bar to defend justice, fairness for Malaysians in general

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Time for Bar to defend justice, fairness for Malaysians in general

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnpI_yK55xE&t=3s (Bar approves motion to challenge Najib’s commuted sentence)

43,676 views 16 Mar 2024 #FMTNews #1MDB #NajibRazak

KUALA LUMPUR, March 19, 2024: The Malaysian Bar Council (Bar) looks set to file a legal challenge on the Pardon’s Board decision to give the disgraced and shameless Najib “1MDB” Razak a partial pardon.

The following are two comments plucked from social media WhatsApp on the matter:

The Bar Counsel took the hint from Dhillon. Good on them. It’s time Malaysian Bar Counsel show their mighty and strength. With the cream of barristers, surely good chance of winning over the Pardon’s Board.

Amidst all the chaos and craziness from the zoo of the psychopathic breed, it is heartening that there are still people out there who still care for the country and the people !

Yes! It is time for the Bar to show their might and strength to defend justice and fairness for Malaysians in general - especially against kleptocrats who steal from the national coffer.

Now News Is Bad News reproduces below a news report on the Bar’s Annual General Meeting (AGM):

Bar approves motion to challenge Najib’s commuted sentence

Shahrul Shahabudin

-16 Mar 2024, 06:00 PM

Former Malaysian Bar president Zainur Zakaria says the motion was passed at the AGM with an ‘overwhelming majority’.

The Malaysian Bar says it will file a legal challenge against the Federal Territories Pardons Board’s decision in Najib Razak’s SRC International case. (Bernama pic)

KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Bar’s annual general meeting today approved a motion for the professional body to file a legal challenge against the Federal Territories Pardons Board over the decision to halve Najib Razak’s jail sentence for his SRC International corruption conviction.

Former Malaysian Bar president Zainur Zakaria told FMT the motion was passed with an “overwhelming majority”.

At a press conference, the Malaysian Bar’s new president, Ezri Abdul Wahab, said 238 members voted in favour of the motion.

“Why us? Because of our duty to protect the rule of law without fear or favour. So, that is why the floor decided in that manner to file a judicial review.

“According to the law, the pardons board ought to make a recommendation to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, and he will then make the decision (to grant the applicant a pardon or otherwise),” he said.

He also stressed that the motion specifically named the pardons board as the intended defendant in the bid for a judicial review and “no other parties”.

Ezri claimed that the pardons board made a decision on Najib’s application beyond the remit of its powers, adding that the Bar will seek to file its application for the judicial review within two weeks.

When contacted, former Malaysian Bar president Salim Bashir said the next step would likely be for the Bar Council to seek legal advice from their lawyers on the directions and grounds to mount the challenge.

Salim also said that as at 12.15pm, when the AGM convened, the quorum of members stood at 382.

Zainur, who submitted the motion for the Bar members’ deliberation, claimed that the pardons board had “acted ultra vires Article 42 of the Federal Constitution” in slashing Najib’s 12-year jail sentence to six years and reducing the RM210 million fine to RM50 million.

He had previously said Najib had only served one-and-a-half years of his jail sentence, and hence his application for a pardon ought not to have been processed and determined in the first place.

Zainur further claimed that Najib had “never shown any remorse or contrition as to his involvement in the 1MDB affairs” and continued to claim that the court had not treated him fairly.

The Federal Court had in 2022 affirmed Najib’s conviction for abuse of power, criminal breach of trust and money laundering involving RM42 million of SRC International’s funds. A review against the SRC International case was also rejected on a majority decision.

Meanwhile, R Jayabalan, a representative from the Johor Bar, said a motion to call for the retirement age of judges to be increased from 66 to 70 was soundly defeated.

“Those who participated in the debate (on the motion) felt that it is best left to the judiciary,” he said.