PUTRAJAYA: Court of Appeal Judge Faizah Jamaludin has withdrawn from hearing Datuk Seri Najib Razak's appeal to reinstate a RM1.9mil lawsuit against former Attorney General, Tan Sri Tommy Thomas, on allegations of misuse of public office, Malay language daily Sinar Harian reports.
Faizah, who was one of the three judges on the panel, withdrew from hearing the appeal as her husband had previously worked in the independent audit company, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Sdn Bhd.
The company reportedly provided scope and services to 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.
During the proceedings, Judge Faizah said that her husband had retired from the company last year.
Sinar Harian reported that the court then set Dec 3 for case management.
During the proceedings, lawyer Datuk Firoz Hussein Ahmad Jamaluddin, representing the former Pekan MP, made an oral application for the concerned judge to withdraw from hearing the appeal.
He said that the judge's husband had served with PwC, a company involved with the asset recovery and debt management of 1MDB.
Meanwhile, lawyer Alan Adrian Gomez, who represented Tommy, said that even though there was no connection between the asset recovery issue and the lawsuit case, they did not object to the application for the sake of fairness.
The three-judge panel chaired by Justice Hashim Hamzah, along with Justices Azmi Ariffin and Faizah, was supposed to hear 71-year-old Najib's appeal on the High Court's decision to dismiss his lawsuit against Tommy.
Faizah was the second judge to withdraw from hearing the former prime minister's appeal.
On Oct 4, 2023, Judge Azizah Nawawi also recused herself from hearing the appeal case.
Judge Azizah, who chaired the three-judge panel, expressed her intention to withdraw from hearing the appeal, stating that her husband had served under Thomas and that the case involved public interest.
The lawsuit is related to allegations of misuse of power by charging him with offences involving 1mDB.
In the lawsuit, Najib claimed to have been accused of bribery in the 1MDB scandal, the International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC), abuse of power under the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act 2009 and money laundering under the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001 (AMLATFPUAA 2001).
Tommy served as attorney general from June 4, 2018, to Feb 28, 2020.
Through the lawsuit filed on Oct 22, 2021, Najib said the charges against him were part of a strategy preconceived by Thomas and were also in line with the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government's plans at the time.
He is seeking a declaration that Thomas had committed misconduct in public office and is demanding damages amounting to RM1.9mil.
This includes consultation fees for the audit team to review documentation in preparation of the facts to handle the prosecution against him.
