Judiciary probe over judge's affidavit suspended due to police probe - CJ

An internal probe by the judiciary over an explosive affidavit affirmed by Court of Appeal judge Hamid Sultan Abu Backer containing allegations of judicial interference was halted due to a police investigation, said Chief Justice Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat.

Tengku Maimun said, however, she did not know what was the development of the police investigation and whether they had put up some report or submitted the investigation papers to the Attorney-General’s Chambers for further action.

“It (the internal investigation) was halted because of the police investigation. The police came and interviewed us (members of the judiciary).

"The position taken by the top management then (during former chief justice Richard Malanjum's tenure) was to hold off on the internal investigation because the police were doing their investigation, that much I can say,” she told the media when asked on the judiciary's internal investigation into the matter.

The chief justice said this during a meet-and-greet session with the media at her office at the Palace of Justice in Putrajaya today.

Elaborating further, Tengku Maimun said Sangeet Kaur Deo, the daughter of the late Karpal Singh, had written to her on the matter.

“I told her that I can’t conduct the investigation or pursue the investigation which was initiated by Richard Malanjum because I am in a conflict of interest position as I was one of the three judges who sat on the panel hearing Karpal’s sedition appeal (at the Court of Appeal).

"I personally have told Sangeet that the complaint was in relation to her father’s case. So I can’t get involved in the investigations relating to that, she understood that,” said Tengku Maimun.

On July 12, 2019, Sangeet told the media that she had made a formal request to Tengku Maimun, who succeeded Malanjum as the new CJ, to have the matter re-investigated.

On Oct 22, 2019, the Kuala Lumpur High Court dismissed an originating summons (OS) filed by Sangeet over alleged interference by the judiciary in the outcome of her father’s sedition case.

Hamid Sultan had on Feb 14, 2019, filed a 63-page affidavit in support of Sangeet’s originating summons.

In the OS, Sangeet sought among others, a declaration that the chief justice had failed to perform his duties as head of the judiciary to defend its integrity and credibility by not completing the investigation into two allegations of judicial interference.

The first allegation pertained to the decision on her late father Karpal Singh's sedition appeal while the second, the conversion of kindergarten teacher M Indira Gandhi’s children to Islam.

On May 30, 2016, the Court of Appeal in a 2-1 decision had upheld the sedition conviction of Karpal by the High Court on Feb 21, 2014, pertaining to statements he had made in 2009 about the sultan of Perak in removing the menteri besar of the state then.

The three-man panel was presided by judge Mohtarudin Baki with the other judges being Kamardin Hashim and Tengku Maimun. Tengku Maimun dissented.

On March 28, 2019, a seven-man bench of the Federal Court led by Zaharah Ibrahim, the chief judge of Malaya then, acquitted Karpal of the sedition charge, ruling there was a serious misdirection of law by the High Court and Court of Appeal as both courts failed to evaluate his defence.

Karpal Singh, who was a prominent lawyer and politician, died in a crash along the North-South Expressway near Gua Tempurung, Perak in the early hours of April 17, 2014.

Sangeet, a lawyer herself, works in his law firm.

On another issue, Tengku Maimun urged the public to lodge a complaint through proper channels if they know of any judicial misconduct.

She said this was to avoid the judiciary from being tainted unnecessarily.

“This is because when you tell the whole world, it won't just taint the judiciary, it would taint the country," said the chief justice. - Bernama