Syahredzan Johan, an aide to Iskander Puteri MP Lim Kit Siang, said Azam should not have publicly announced the probe in the first place.

“At the very least, Azam should have waited until investigations are well underway and reveal some prima facie case against the judge,” he said in a Twitter post today.

Syahredzan said leaving the question of whether there were other mechanisms available to handle the matter aside, Azam, as the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) chief, should not have publicly announced that they are investigating Nazlan.

“Doing so casts aspersions on a sitting judge and gives ammunition to people who wish to besmirch him.

“While there is, of course, a need for MACC to be transparent in its investigations, there is also a greater need for public trust to be reposed in the judiciary, especially when it involves the integrity of a sitting judge.”

Syaredzan’s comment come in the wake of reports that MACC is probing Nazlan over allegations that the judge had an unexplained amount of RM1 million in his bank account.

Nazlan denied the claim saying they were “false, baseless and malicious allegations” and aimed at undermining his credibility as a judge.

Yesterday, opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim expressed his concerns about MACC’s probe on the judge, saying that the probe might be seen as a form of political pressure and interference.

He said the judiciary had its own oversight body to ensure the integrity of judges.

DAP chairman Lim Guan Eng also slammed the agency for immediately launching an investigation into Nazlan when it had failed to do the same into Azam over alleged ownership of shares and warrants worth millions of ringgit.