Bukit Gelugor MP Ramkarpal Singh said it was wrong to make a statement of fact in comparison with the exoneration by the Attorney-General and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) on Najib over any wrongdoing with regard to 1MDB.
“In justifying the said decision, Judge Yaacob Md Sam was quoted as saying that judicial notice can be taken as ‘the sun rises in the east and sets in the west’ and that the PM’s exoneration by the AG and the MACC was similar in nature, so the same can be taken accepted without proof,” Ramkarpal said.
Ramkarpal said it is a fact “the sun rises in the east and sets in the west” and that can never be disputed.
“However, whether or not the PM has committed any wrongdoing in relation to the 1MDB scandal, certainly can be (disputed),” he said.
The case, which was heard by justices Yaacob, Abang Iskandar Abang Hashim and Zaleha Yusof, was pertaining to the interim injunction given to Najib last year over a video by Pua that was deemed defamatory.
The appellate court was of the view that High Court judge Mohd Zaki Abdul Wahab did not err in fact or law in exercising his discretion in favour of allowing the injunction against Pua.
“He (Yaacob) made the ruling based on the much-publicised press conference by Attorney-General Mohamed Apandi Ali on Jan 26, 2016 and a MACC statement to the same effect.
“With the greatest of respect, it is difficult to comprehend the logic behind the Court of Appeal’s said reasoning,” Rampkarpal said, arguing that the AG and the MACC are not recognised arbitrators in law.
He added that going by the Court of Appeal’s logic, all prosecutions sanctioned by the AG need not be prosecuted in Court since the AG’s decision to prosecute must mean that there is sufficient evidence in his mind against an accused person.
“If a court can take judicial notice of this, why is there a need to prove such evidence in court?
“That is why, I am of the view that it is erroneous to conclude with certainty that the PM did not commit any wrongdoing in relation to 1MDB just because the AG and the MACC seems to think so,” Ramkarpal said.
He added that the AG and MACC’s statements on the PM’s culpability in the 1MDB saga “are at best, merely their views on the matter”.
“Such views cannot be taken as gospel as only a recognised Court of law has the power to make a judicial pronouncement on the matter.”
On Aug 4 last year, Zaki dismissed Pua’s application that the video should remain on his Facebook page to be viewed by the public pending the outcome of Najib’s defamation suit.
Pua then filed an appeal against the ruling. The injunction meant that Pua was barred from uploading the contents of the video on his Facebook page. The video had been removed from Pua’s Facebook on April 24 last year following a court order.
Najib, in his statement of claim, said the two-minute 21-second video, entitled “BN abandons all Bills to give precedence to PAS RUU355 Private Member’s Bill”, was uploaded on Pua’s Facebook page.
Najib said the live video was directed at him and was done with malice and bad intention to defame him.
Further, he said, Pua had also uttered statements in the video that the tabling of the bill was a charade to divert attention from the 1MDB issue and the RM2.6 billion found in the private accounts of Najib.
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