KUALA LUMPUR – Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali will be the High Court judge to hear the case of former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak who has been charged with criminal breach of trust (CBT) and abuse of power involving RM42 million of SRC International Sdn Bhd funds.
According to the Criminal High Court 3 cause list, Mohd Nazlan will hear Najib’s case which has been fixed for Aug 8 at 9 am.
Mohd Nazlan, 51, from the New Commercial Court 1 replaces judge Datuk Mohd Sofian Abd Razak who had recorded Najib’s plea.
Mohd Sofian has been transferred to Civil Court 10. The transfers took effect on Aug 1 and the transfer letters were signed by Chief Judge of Malaya Tan Sri Zaharah Ibrahim on July 24.
The case management as well as hearing of an application by the defence for a gag order to prohibit the media from publishing polemics on the merit of the charges faced by Najib have been fixed for Aug 8.
On July 4, Najib, 65, pleaded not guilty before Mohd Sofian to three counts of CBT and one count of abuse of power involving SRC International Sdn Bhd funds totalling RM42 million.
It was reported that the Malaysian Bar had called for Mohd Sofian to recuse himself from the case as his elder brother, Datuk Seri Mohd Soffi, held a position in UMNO and also the Pahang state government.
However, the Federal Court Chief Registrar’s Office, in a statement issued on July 6, said the selection of Mohd Sofian to preside over the trial of Najib was done randomly through its e-filing portal.
According to the statement, the registration process began when the prosecutors filed their cases in the e-filing system which would then distribute them randomly to judges handling criminal cases.
— BERNAMA
