MALAYSIAN Bar president Karen Cheah Yee Lynn has been threatened with a libel lawsuit over her recent media statement regarding the alleged misconduct of lawyers acting for Datuk Seri Najib Razak in the former prime minister’s SRC International final appeal.
Lawyers Datuk Zaid Ibrahim, Liew Teck Huat and M. Rueben from Messrs Zaid Ibrahim Suflan TH Liew & Partners (a firm Najib both appointed and discharged at the eleventh hour) said Cheah’s Aug 19 statement contained “false and malicious” remarks against them.
Through a letter of demand issued by the firm on Aug 26 (Friday) and reported by the media today, the trio purportedly demanded that Cheah make a full and unequivocal retraction, and apologise to them.
If she fails to do so by this Friday (Sept 2), they would have no choice but to commence legal action against her.
In her statement, Cheah said the Malaysian Bar was “aghast” over the justice system being “abused and brought to disrepute” through “frantic” acts and the numerous attempts to postpone the hearing of Najib’s SRC International final appeal.
She also cited Najib’s lead counsel Hisyam Teh Poh Teik’s application to discharge himself from acting for Najib; Hisyam’s “defiance” in refusing to proceed with submissions on the appeal despite the Federal Court requesting them to proceed and; the “sudden” discharge of Zaid, Liew and Rueben by Najib.
She did not name Hisyam, only the trio.
“The various attempts to undermine the justice system through such unscrupulous strategies are a perversion of our justice system and an abuse of the court process,” Cheah added.
“The advocates and solicitors involved in such acts have conducted themselves unprofessionally and would have to face disciplinary action.”
“Reckless disregard”
The three lawyers contended that several paragraphs in her press statement demonstrated a “reckless disregard” as to whether the imputations complained of were true, according to Malaysiakini.
They alleged that Cheah suggested, among others, that they “deliberately acted unprofessionally”, “with an improper agenda to abuse the process of the court” and their “conduct was designed to pervert the course of justice”.
In doing so, she implied that the trio were “unprofessional, incompetent and ignorant of the professional rules of practice and etiquette” and had acted “in flagrant contempt of court”, according to the trio.
Branding these allegations as “false and scurrilous”, they further claimed that Cheah intended to ensure her statement received the “most extensive coverage possible” by issuing the statement, which was published by several news portals.
“You further knew… that (Najib’s case) had attracted wide international media coverage and (that your) imputations (would be) disseminated to the international community as well,” they added, according to Free Malaysia Today (FMT).
Besides an apology, the trio wants Cheah to refrain from repeating such statements and compensation for “reasonable costs and expenses”.
On July 26, Najib benched his long-time lawyer Tan Sri Dr Muhammad Shafee Abdullah’s firm and appointed Zaid’s law firm to lead the defence in his SRC International final appeal.
Multiple attempts were made to postpone the hearing on the grounds that the new legal team needed more time to prepare themselves for the case. However, the Federal Court repeatedly rejected such requests.
This prompted Najib’s lead counsel, Hisyam, to move to discharge himself, which the five-member apex court bench led by the chief justice denied as well. The next day, Najib discharged Messrs Zaid Ibrahim Suflan TH Liew & Partners from representing him.
On Tuesday (Aug 23), the Federal Court rejected Najib’s final appeal in the SRC International RM42 mil corruption case and upheld his seven charges of power abuse, criminal breach of trust and money laundering, RM210 mil fine and 12-year jail sentence.
The Pekan MP is currently serving his sentence in the Kajang Prison. – Aug 29, 2022
Main pic credit: Malay Mail
