PUTRAJAYA (July 4): High Court judge Roz Mawar Rozain will no longer preside over Tan Sri Shahrir Abdul Samad’s malicious prosecution suit against former attorney general (AG) Tan Sri Tommy Thomas.
This comes after a three-member panel, led by Court of Appeal (COA) judge Datuk Supang Lian, allowed Thomas’ appeal to recuse Roz Mawar, on the grounds that there was a real danger of bias — albeit unintentional — if she continues to hear the matter.
Reading the unanimous decision, fellow panel member COA judge Datuk Faizah Jamaludin said: “As an informed and fair minded bystander, given the facts and circumstances of the case, we believe that the finding and observations [by the High Court judge] does give rise to a risk of a real danger of bias by the learned judge, [...] even though the bias may be unintentional”.
The panel, which also consisted of Datuk Ahmad Fairuz Zainol Abidin, ordered for costs of RM30,000.
Roz Mawar had dismissed Thomas’ recusal application earlier in January this year, on the grounds that it lacked merit.
The recusal application came after Roz Mawar dismissed the ex-AG’s bid to strike out Shahrir’s case against him in July 2024. She ruled that the former Johor Bahru member of Parliament’s (Shahrir) claim was not an abuse of process and ought to be ventilated in a trial.
During submissions of the appeal early last month, Thomas’ counsel Allan Gomez, who led the team of lawyers representing Thomas, argued that Roz Mawar ought to recuse herself, as she had made unsubstantiated determinations in pre-trial applications, which went beyond what was pleaded in the case.
However, Shahrir’s counsel Datuk Firoz Hussein Ahmad Jamaluddin, who led the team of lawyers appearing for Shahrir, countered that the judge made no such determinations or findings, but rather, only found that issues raised in the case thus far needed to be ventilated further.
Shahrir had initiated the suit against Thomas, former Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) chief Latheefa Koya, the MACC, and the government, for alleged malicious prosecution, malicious investigation, and wrongful arrest.
The former minister (Shahrir) claimed, among other matters, that Thomas had failed to order for the probe of the case to be completed before deciding to grant permission to prosecute him.
This was with regard to Shahrir’s criminal trial for failing to declare RM1 million, which he had received from jailed former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, to the Inland Revenue Board (IRB).
In January 2023, Shahrir was granted a full acquittal, after the prosecution informed the court that they did not intend to continue the case, following instructions from their superiors.
Shahrir has maintained that the sum was a reimbursement, and he did not need to declare it as income.