Nazlan Ghazali and Collin Lawrence Sequerah, both entrusted with handling high-profile corruption cases in the High Court, are also among four Court of Appeal judges set to be elevated to the apex court.
In September, FMT, quoting a source, reported that two Court of Appeal judges were frontrunners for the position of CJM, the third highest in the judicial hierarchy.
“Hashim’s name may not have been proposed by the Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) but his credentials make him a suitable candidate for the position which needs an experienced hand to handle challenging tasks,” a source told FMT.
If appointed, Hashim, 64 later this month, will fill a vacancy left by Hasnah Hashim who retired on Nov 15.
He was appointed a judicial commissioner in November 2012, and made a High Court judge two years later. He was elevated to the Court of Appeal in March 2021.
Born in Penang, Hashim graduated from Universiti Malaya’s law faculty in 1985 and held various positions while in the judicial and legal service, serving as a magistrate, sessions court judge, and state prosecution director in Perak, Sarawak and Kedah.
Hashim, a former Royal Military College student, also served as deputy chief registrar and later chief registrar of the Federal Court before being drafted into the judiciary.
On July 28, Court of Appeal judge Wan Ahmad Farid Wan Salleh, 63, was appointed to helm the judiciary despite only being elevated to the Court of Appeal in November last year.
On the same day, Azizah Nawawi, 63, then the senior-most judge in the Court of Appeal, was appointed chief judge of Sabah and Sarawak, the first woman to helm the position.
Nazlan was the trial judge who tried and convicted Najib Razak in 2020 for embezzling RM42 million in SRC International Sdn Bhd, a former 1MDB subsidiary. He sentenced the former prime minister to 12 years’ jail and fined him RM210 million.
The conviction and sentence were later affirmed by the Court of Appeal and the Federal Court, but the Federal Territories Pardons Board subsequently halved the jail term and reduced the fine to RM50 million.
Sequerah presided over the corruption trial of Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, but later granted him a discharge not amounting to an acquittal at the request of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission to make way for further investigations into the case.
He is also the trial judge in Najib’s ongoing 1MDB case consisting of four charges of abuse of power and 21 counts of money laundering involving RM2.28 billion. Sequerah will deliver his verdict in the case on Dec 26.
The two other appeals court judges expected to be elevated are Che Ruzima Ghazali and Azimah Omar.
The quartet’s promotion will see 10 seats on the apex court bench filled, one short of the maximum number prescribed by the Federal Constitution.
Hashim and the four judges will receive their appointment letters from the Yang di-Pertuan Agong at Istana Negara on Wednesday, Dec 3, with an oath-taking ceremony to be held at the Palace of Justice later in the afternoon.
Under the Federal Constitution, judicial appointments are made by the king, on the advice of the prime minister and in consultation with the Conference of Rulers.
Names of potential candidates are proposed to the prime minister by the nine-member JAC, chaired by the chief justice of Malaysia.