The authorities slapped Najib Razak with 39 charges relating to white collar crimes, including the 1MDB scandal, following the May 9 general election. They also pressed charges against Najib’s wife Rosmah Mansor over the 1MDB scandal.

Najib’s cases are scheduled to start this year, while Rosmah, who faces 18 charges relating to 1MDB and a school’s solar project, is awaiting trial dates.

Other individuals hauled up to court include former deputy prime minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, former Federal Territories minister Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor, former Felda chairman Isa Samad, and former 1MDB executive director Arul Kanda Kandasamy

Fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho, said to be the central figure in 1MDB, was also charged in absentia over the scandal. Arrest warrants were also issued against Low, his father, Larry and four former 1MDB employees. Recently, a former Goldman Sachs banker, Roger Ng, was charged in court over his alleged role in issuing 1MDB-related bonds.

Najib’s lawyer Shafee Abdullah was also hauled up to court. He claimed trial to four charges of money-laundering involving RM9.5 million that he allegedly received from Najib.

Meanwhile, in a landmark ruling, the Federal Court said both parents must agree on their children’s conversion into Islam.

The decision by the panel of five judges on Jan 29 brought closure to kindergarten teacher M Indira Gandhi’s decade-long legal battle to revoke the conversion into Islam of her three children by former husband K Pathamanathan.

The Federal Court had departed from a 2007 controversial ruling that one parent could decide on the child’s religion and that such conversion into Islam was “constitutional”.

Pathamanathan, who took the name Muhammad Riduan Abdullah after converting to Islam, fled in 2009 with their youngest daughter, Prasana Diksa. Until today, police have failed to track down Riduan and Prasana, despite a court order directing the police to look for Prasana.

The previous Barisan Nasional government had earlier withdrawn an amendment at the Dewan Rakyat to bar unilateral conversions, a decision that was heavily criticised by Indira’s then lawyer M Kulasegaran. The Pakatan Harapan government said it would not re-introduce the bill as the highest court in the country had made its ruling on unilateral conversions.

Last October, a lower court, following the apex court’s precedent, ruled in favour of a Buddhist father and annulled his children’s conversion into Islam by his former wife, a Muslim convert. He also obtained custody of his children shortly before the court revoked the conversions.

Here are several other cases that grabbed the headlines in 2018:

1. Election Court nullifies two results

The Election Court was called to sit last year following legal disputes that arose after the May 9 general election.

In two separate cases – the Cameron Highlands parliamentary seat and the Rantau state seat – the Election Court nullified BN’s victory.

In the Rantau case, the court ruled that Mohamad Hassan of Umno, who won the Rantau seat, was not duly elected as his PKR opponent Streram Sinnasamy had been denied his right to file nomination papers.

In the Cameron Highlands case, the court found that there were elements of vote buying by BN during the campaign period and, therefore, nullified BN candidate C Sivarraajh’s victory.

Mohamad filed an appeal at the Federal Court but Sivarraajh did not, resulting in a by-election. The Cameron Highlands by-election will be held on Jan 26, 2019.

2. Government can sue individuals for defamation

The Federal Court said in September that the government had a right under Malaysian laws to sue individuals for defamation.

In dismissing Stampin MP Chong Chieng Jen’s appeal over a lower court ruling, the apex court said the common law principle that public authorities could not bring action against a person was not suitable here as the right to freedom of speech under the Federal Constitution also had restrictions.

3. No answers to legality of top judges’ appointments

The three main lawyers groups – from Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak – which last year questioned the legality of the appointments of former chief justice Raus Sharif and former Court of Appeal president Zulkefli Ahmad Makinudin as additional judges, did not get an answer through the courts.

The Federal Court refused to rule on whether the extensions given to Raus and Zulkefli to hold office beyond retirement age were valid, after the two men resigned in July.

4. PM and ministers can be sued?

The Federal Court will this year examine whether a prime minister and Cabinet ministers can be held liable for their actions while in office.

This follows Damansara MP Tony Pua being given a nod last year to challenge the lower court’s decision that a prime minister cannot be sued while he is in power as he is not a “public officer”.

The highest court is set to revisit the decision made in a previous case where Dr Mahathir Mohamad, then in the opposition, took Najib to court over the alleged tort of misfeasance and breach of fiduciary duty in public office.

Mahathir, after becoming prime minister, said the government would amend its code of ethics to reflect that Cabinet ministers were public officers.

5. Disqualified PKR MPs

Former Pandan MP Rafizi Ramli was disqualified from defending his seat on May 9 after he was convicted and jailed 30 months by the Sessions Court in February for leaking accounts related to the National Feedlot Corporation’s (NFC) subsidiary companies and executive chairman Salleh Ismail.

Rafizi was previously sentenced to 18 months in jail for leaking a 1MDB report, which was then a government secret. The jail sentence was subsequently replaced with a good behaviour bond when his appeal was heard after the general election.

Former Batu MP Tian Chua was not allowed to defend his seat after the Election Commission (EC) disqualified him from contesting due to a RM2,000 court fine imposed on him in 2010. The High Court later dismissed Tian Chua’s challenge of the EC decision.

6. Multiple acquittals

After May 9, the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) dropped cases initiated by the previous administration against politicians and activists that were deemed political.

Those who were acquitted include deputy ministers R Sivarasa and Sim Tze Tzin, cartoonist Zunar, Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) leader S Arutchelvan, and Petaling Jaya MP Maria Chin Abdullah.

7. Mystery remains over Nazrin Hassan’s death

The case of the late Cradle Fund chief executive officer Nazrin Hassan remains unsolved. He died after a mobile phone is said to have exploded while it was being charged near his bed. Police reclassified the case as murder, from sudden death, after finding new evidence.

His widow had tried to stop the police twice in the courts from exhuming Nazrin’s remains for a second post mortem but failed. The second post mortem report has not been released until today.

She was among Nazrin’s five family members who were arrested for questioning over the murder investigations but were subsequently freed by the court.