Zaid, two lawyers claim defamation, demand apology from Bar president

Karen Cheah. -The Star filepic

PETALING JAYA: Legal action will begin against Malaysian Bar president Karen Cheah if she does not retract a press statement she issued and apologise, says Datuk Zaid Ibrahim and two other lawyers.

Zaid, Liew Teck Huat and Rueben Mathiavaranam – who had acted for former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak in the SRC International final appeal – said that Cheah's statement was “grave and serious libel” of their conduct.

All three added in a letter issued by their law firm on Aug 26 that they will initiate legal action against Cheah if the retraction and apology is not ready by Friday (Sept 2).

Apart from an apology, the letter also called upon the Bar president to undertake not to repeat such statements concerning the lawyers and for compensation of reasonable costs and expenses.

They said that the press release dated Aug 19 “falsely and maliciously” contained paragraphs concerning their conduct in appeal in the Federal Court and added that this formed the basis of news reports on several portals.

All three said that Cheah's statement suggested that they had “deliberately acted unprofessionally” and “with an improper agenda to abuse the process of the court” among others.

They added that Cheah’s statement had also suggested the lawyers were “unprofessional, incompetent and ignorant of the professional rules of practice and etiquette” and “were not fit to practise as advocates and solicitors”.

All three also said that the statement by Cheah suggested that they had “no compunction in abusing the process of the court”, had acted 'in flagrant contempt of court' and “that their 'conduct was designed to pervert the course of justice' and 'bring the legal profession into disrepute”.

Najib had appointed Zaid’s law firm on July 25 to replace Shafee & Co as solicitors in his final SRC International criminal appeal before the Federal Court, with Hisyam Teh Poh Teik roped in to be lead counsel in place of Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah.

Najib discharged the firm as solicitors as well as Zaid, Liew and Rueben as co-counsel on Aug 18 after the apex court turned down several requests for additional time to prepare for the appeal,

A similar request to discharge Hisyam Teh as lead counsel was rejected by Chief Justice Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat.

On Aug 23, the Federal Court unanimously affirmed Najib’s conviction on all seven charges of abuse of power, criminal breach of trust and money laundering brought in respect of SRC International funds totalling RM42mil.

He was sentenced to 12 years’ imprisonment and a fine of RM210mil or in default another five years in jail.

Najib began serving his sentence immediately at Kajang Prison after the proceedings concluded.

The conviction and sentence were first handed down by the Kuala Lumpur High Court on July 28, 2020, and affirmed by the Court of Appeal on Dec 8 last year.