Malaysian Bar's complaint against Zaid Ibrahim and two partners in handling Najib’s SRC appeal dismissed

Friday 17 May 2024

KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 21): The Advocates and Solicitors disciplinary board had on Saturday (Jan 20) dismissed a complaint made by the Malaysian Bar against de-facto former law minister Datuk Zaid Ibrahim and his partners Liew Teck Huat and Rueben Mathiavarnam in their handling of former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s SRC International Sdn Bhd case at the Federal Court.

The complaint was dismissed by former Court of Appeal president Tan Sri Rohana Yusof.

Zaid took to X (formerly known as Twitter) to relay the outcome.

“The [Advocates and Solicitors] disciplinary board, led by Rohana, exonerated my partners Liew (and) Rueben, and me of any breach of the Legal Profession Act or any ethical wrongdoing as alleged by the president of the Malaysian Bar (Karen Cheah).

“The complaint against us by the council hinged on our decision to represent Najib at the last stage of his appeal in the SRC case at the Federal Court. The complaint stemmed from our decision to seek the court’s permission for an adjournment of the trial to allow the new lead counsel time to be ready for cases,” Zaid said on X.

In thanking the disciplinary board, Zaid said at last, the assembly of reasonable men and women made the right decision that he and partners were not to be faulted for doing their best for the client.

Rueben, when separately contacted by The Edge, confirmed that the case against them had been dismissed.

Last January, Zaid, who is a senior partner of Messrs Zaid Ibrahim, Suflan TH Liew and Partners (ZIST), along with Liew, who is the managing partner of the firm, and partner Rueben, had revealed that Zaid had received a show-cause letter following a complaint from the Bar Council (Malaysian Bar).

Normally, when a complaint is received, the disciplinary board would evaluate whether there was basis for the complaint and if there wasn’t, the board would dismiss it.

The complaint against the trio is believed to follow the August 2022 proceedings, when they had tried to seek an adjournment to Najib’s final SRC appeal after being roped in a month earlier (ie in July) to replace the former prime minister’s solicitors from Shafee & Co.

Although they said they will argue on getting leave to adduce further evidence on trial judge Datuk Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali, which was eventually dismissed, the trio said they were not prepared to argue on the main appeal.

This resulted in the Federal Court bench, led by Chief Justice Tun Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat, directing them to continue with the appeal. However, the firm (ZIST) discharged itself while Datuk Hisyam Teh Poh Teik was ordered to continue to remain as Najib’s counsel.

The apex court's bench on Aug 23 upheld Najib’s conviction and sentence of 12 years of jail and RM210 million in fines with regard to the SRC International case.

A review filed by Najib over the decision was also dismissed by another apex court bench in March last year.

Edited ByKathy Fong

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