Roz Mawar said Thomas’s application to disqualify her from presiding over the civil suit, including an allegation that she had prejudged the matter, lacked factual basis.
She said an “unhealthy trend” had emerged of litigants seeking to recuse judges from hearing their cases. Such applications were capable of eroding public confidence in the judicial arm of the state, she added.
Roz Mawar said a litigant was entitled to make a recusal application but must first consider the potential harm it might bring to the integrity of the judiciary and the administration of justice.
“To my mind, the cavalier manner in which the recusal applications were filed and the grounds relied upon were so frivolous and flimsy, and if I may say so, even disrespectful, that the entire application borders on contempt of court,” she said.
The judge said it was reasonable to expect that Thomas, given his professional experience, was fully aware of the potential implications of his recusal application.
She said the application represented an effort to circumvent legislative amendments to Section 68 of the Courts of Judicature Act 1964 which prevents a litigant from revisiting points already determined in an interlocutory matter.
“This recusal application appears to indirectly challenge my earlier decision in the striking out application, in light of its timing and content,” she said.
Roz Mawar said her decision to dismiss Thomas’s application to strike out the plaintiff’s case did not finally determine the issues that would arise in the trial.
She ordered Thomas to pay RM20,000 in costs to Shahrir, who was represented by lawyers Syed Faisal Al-Edros Syed Abdullah and Firoz Hussein Ahmad Jamaluddin.
The judge also fixed March 4 to hear Thomas’s application to stay the trial pending the outcome of his appeal to the Court of Appeal.
However, she directed lawyer Alan Adrian Gomez, appearing for Thomas, to file a formal stay application.
Thomas filed the recusal application on Aug 26 last year, claiming that Roz Mawar had made numerous baseless findings and statements contradictory to the claims in the lawsuit and the evidence presented in court.
Shahrir opposed the application, arguing that the judge should not recuse herself simply because Thomas was dissatisfied with her reasoning.
On July 3, Roz Mawar dismissed Thomas’s application to strike out the lawsuit.
Shahrir, a former Johor Bahru MP, filed the lawsuit in December 2023, naming Thomas, former Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) chief commissioner Latheefa Koya, MACC, and the government as defendants.
Shahrir’s lawsuit concerns a RM1 million cheque he received from former prime minister Najib Razak for restoration work on the Puri Langkasuka housing project in Larkin, Johor.
Thomas, who served as attorney-general from June 4, 2018 to Feb 28, 2020, refuted Shahrir’s allegations of abuse of power, describing them as “unsustainable”.
He said the discretion to charge could only be exercised after he received the investigation papers in any criminal matter from agencies like MACC.
Thomas also said he had resigned on Feb 28, 2020, while Shahrir’s criminal trial for the charges began on July 26, 2022.
On Jan 5, 2023 High Court judge Muhammad Jamil Hussin acquitted Shahrir of a charge of failing to declare RM1 million in income received from Najib to the Inland Revenue Board.