Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor successfully dismissed the High Court judge from continuing to hear the civil suit case regarding the purchase of luxury goods amounting to US$346 million (RM1.64 billion) using money embezzled from 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).
High Court judge Leong Wai Hong granted Rosmah’s application due to a potential conflict.
“According to the affidavit in support of her application for me to withdraw, the first defendant (Rosmah) stated that the reason for the application was because I had been a partner of Messrs Skrine and was the former Head of the Legal and Arbitration Division of the firm from 2011 to 2021,” Judge Leong explained.
In the proceeding which was conducted via Zoom this morning (November 19), Judge Leong said that Messrs Skrine was the legal counsel for the plaintiff (1MDB) who was involved in the main subject of this suit including the investigation of 1MDB and her husband, Najib Razak who was the Prime Minister at the time.
Judge Leong decided to withdraw from hearing the case after considering Rosmah’s application, reported Utusan.
“Justice must not only be done but must also be seen to be done. The suit will now be heard before another High Court judge.”
On May 9, 1MDB and its subsidiaries filed a lawsuit against Rosmah over the purchase of luxury items amounting to over US$346 million. The subsidiaries of 1MDB involved in the suit are SRC International Sdn. Bhd., 1MDB Energy Holdings Ltd, 1MDB Energy Ltd, 1MDB Energy (Langat) Ltd, and the Global Diversified Investment Company Ltd (1MDB Global Investments Ltd) as the second to sixth plaintiffs.
Najib Razak got his judge to withdraw too
In another update by BERNAMA, Court of Appeal Judge Faizah Jamaludin has also withdrawn from hearing Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s appeal to reinstate a RM1.9 million lawsuit against former Attorney General, Tan Sri Tommy Thomas, on allegations of misuse of public office.
Judge Datuk Faizah Jamaludin explained that her husband had previously worked with the independent auditing firm, PricewaterhouseCoopers Advisory Services Sdn Bhd (PwC). The company was involved with 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB), where Najib was previously ordered to defend himself on four cases of using his position for bribes amounting to almost RM2.3bil.
At the beginning of today’s proceedings, the judge informed all parties involved in the appeal case that her husband had recently retired from his position a year ago.
Following this, the three-judge panel, led by Datuk Hashim Hamzah, along with Datuk Azmi Ariffin and Faizah, decided to adjourn the appeal until December 3 for case management.
