Lawyer Zainur Zakaria said the inquiry failed to adhere to Section 18 of the RCI Act 1950 as required under the terms of reference.

Zainur said lawyers should have acted for Mahathir as he was also the subject matter of the inquiry as stated in the provision.

“Failure to comply with the provision makes the proceedings a nullity,” he said in his submission before Justice Amarjeet Singh.

“As a consequence, the findings as contained in a report presented to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong are null and void.”

On June 12, Amarjeet granted leave in a judicial review application for Mahathir to ventilate if he had a right to have lawyers representing him and for him to be present in the RCI proceedings.

However, senior federal counsel Shamsul Bolhassan submitted that Mahathir’s application to seek legal redress is academic as the commission has submitted its report to the king.

He said the decision to disallow Mahathir and his lawyers to be present during the inquiry is “free from illegality and irrationality”.

“The decision to make the RCI proceeding closed was made with the Yang di-Pertuan Agong’s royal prerogative,” said Shamsul, who was assisted by senior federal counsel Nurhafizza Azizan.

He said the proceeding involved disclosure and perusal of classified documents which are not allowed to be made publicly available due to national interests.

Amarjeet will deliver his ruling on Oct 28.

Last week, law and institutional reform minister Azalina Othman Said said the Cabinet had decided that the report would be tabled in Parliament, with its recommendations to be debated by MPs.

On Aug 12, the RCI’s chairman, Raus Sharif, submitted its classified final report to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Sultan Ibrahim, at Istana Negara.

Putrajaya filed an application on Feb 3, 2017 to review the International Court of Justice’s decision, handed down nine years earlier, to award Singapore sovereignty over Batu Puteh.

The ICJ awarded Middle Rocks to Malaysia, while the ownership of South Ledge, situated about 4km from Batu Puteh, was left to be determined based on the delimitation of territorial waters.

However, upon wresting control of Putrajaya in the May 2018 general election, the Mahathir-led Pakatan Harapan government withdrew the application before it came up for hearing on June 11, 2018.

On Feb 14 this year, Sultan Ibrahim consented to Raus leading an RCI to inquire into why Malaysia dropped its territorial claim to Batu Puteh.

Mahathir provided his testimony during the closed-door inquiry on June 12.