New at the helm: Abang Iskandar taking his oath as Court of Appeal president at the Palace of Justice, Putrajaya.
PUTRAJAYA: Three top posts in the judiciary have been filled with the appointments of new judges.
At the judges’ elevation ceremony held at the Palace of Justice here yesterday, Justice Tan Sri Abang Iskandar Abang Hashim was sworn in as the new Court of Appeal president, replacing Justice Tan Sri Rohana Yusuf who retired last year.
Justice Abang Iskandar, from Sarawak, is the first Court of Appeal president from east Malaysia.
Meanwhile, Justice Datuk Mohamad Zabidin Mohd Diah took his oath as the new Chief Judge of Malaya.
Justice Datuk Abdul Rahman Sebli was sworn in as the new Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak, taking over Justice Abang Iskandar’s previous post.
The Court of Appeal president, the Chief Judge of Malaya, the Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak are ranked second, third and fourth respectively under the Chief Justice.
The ceremony also saw a Court of Appeal judge Justice Nordin Hassan elevated to the Federal Court.
Six High Court judges were also elevated to the Court of Appeal.
They are Justices Datuk Azman Abdullah, Datuk Azimah Omar, Datuk Lim Chong Fong, Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah, Mohamed Zaini Mazlan and Datuk Wong Kian Kheong.
Justice Sequerah is the trial judge in former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s RM2.28bil 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) trial.
Justice Mohamed Zaini is the trial judge in Najib’s 1MDB audit tampering trial and Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor’s solar hybrid project trial, which saw Rosmah convicted and sentenced.
Apart from them, 11 new High Court judges were sworn in.
They are Justices Datuk Norsharidah Awang, Tee Geok Hock, Datuk Zaleha Rose Pandin, Alice Loke Yee Ching, Datuk Azhar Abdul Hamid, Dr Arik Sanusi Yeop Johari, G. Bhupindar Singh, Mahazan Mat Taib, Ahmad Murad Abdul Aziz, Liza Chan Sow Keng and Wan Muhammad Amin Wan Yahya.
At the same ceremony, five judicial commissioners which included three lawyers received their appointment letters and took their oath in the ceremony.
The five are Zaharah Hussain (former High Court registrar), M. Sumathi (former Kuala Lumpur Industrial Court chairperson), Dr Suzana Muhamad Said (former lawyer), Evawani Farisyta Mohammad (former lawyer) and Dr Wendy Ooi Su Ghee (former partner at law firm Messrs Gan & Zul).
Also present at the ceremony were Chief Justice Tun Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat, Attorney General Tan Sri Idrus Harun and Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reforms) Ramkarpal Singh.
