PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal has allowed Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad's appeal to recuse Judicial Commissioner (JC) Arziah Mohamed Apandi from presiding over his RM5mil defamation suit against former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.
A three-member bench led by Justice Datuk Dr Choo Kah Sing, along with Justices Datuk Ahmad Kamal Md Shahid and Datuk Ong Chee Kwan, unanimously held that there was merit in the Health Minister's appeal.
The court also ordered that the case be remitted to the High Court to be heard by a different judge or judicial commissioner.
The court found that directions given by Arziah during case management in 2025 gave rise to a real danger of bias as Dzulkefly was not given the option to proceed with mitigation to ventilate his case.
"The JC was alleged to have said that 'if the matter is not settled, it will be struck out,' which is almost tantamount to a threat. There are sufficient elements of bias to evoke a real danger of bias," said the judge.
However, the bench made it clear that the real danger of bias was confined to Arziah's remarks and did not arise from her relationship with her father. Tan Sri Mohamed Apandi Ali was the attorney general during Najib's tenure.
After the proceedings, Najib's legal team confirmed that the matter is fixed for case management at the High Court on Wednesday (Feb 25) and that they will not be appealing the ruling.
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Dzulkefly filed the application on April 14, 2025, claiming there was bias based on remarks made by Arziah during case management on March 7 and April 7, 2025.
On July 29, 2025, Arziah dismissed the application, ruling that Dzulkefly failed to prove any real risk of bias arising from her earlier directions or from the fact that she is the daughter of Mohamed Apandi. He then filed an appeal at the Court of Appeal.
Dzulkefly filed the suit in his personal capacity against Najib on Dec 31, 2021, claiming that Najib's post, which alleged that Dzulkefly was practising cronyism by awarding positions or appointments to relatives without properly assessing their qualifications or suitability in government or private entities.
He further claimed that the defendant had published the statement with the intent to attack his character, degrade and humiliate him, and that the post was politically motivated with the express purpose of defaming him and tarnishing his reputation.
However, Najib, in his statement of defence on March 29, 2022, contended that the post was not connected to Dzulkefly but was directed at the Pakatan Harapan coalition. – Bernama
