Judge Tells Najib S Lawyer Not To Make Sub Judice Remarks On 1mdb Trial Outside Courtroom

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A file photograph shows lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah at the Kuala Lumpur Court Complex. — Picture by Miera ZulyanaKUALA LUMPUR, Dec 9 — The High Court today told Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah to not make any comments outside the courtroom that would be “sub judice” — or involving matters still being heard on trial — in the 1Malaysia Development Berhad case.
This comes after the prosecution complained to the High Court that Shafee was making allegedly “sub judice” remarks and was allegedly “bordering on contempt” of court.
Before the 1MDB trial could resume this afternoon, deputy public prosecutor Ahmad Akram Gharib raised the prosecution’s “strong objection” to Shafee’s press conference during lunchtime at the court complex, saying that the defence lawyer allegedly spoke on “sub judice” matters or matters that were still being considered by the High Court.
Objecting to Shafee’s allegedly “sub judice” remarks to the media on Najib’s court testimony this morning as the former prime minister’s testimony had yet to be tested by the prosecution in the court, Akram said: “Whatever said this morning as evidence is still subject to cross-examination. It has not been crossed and the other side has not been heard yet.
“To bring it to the media and to the public amounts to sub judice and it is an impediment to the trial,” Akram said.
Akram also accused Shafee of having made remarks regarding the 1MDB trial that were “bordering on contempt” of court.
Akram was referring to Shafee’s remarking that he wanted to see what the prosecution would do in response to Shafee’s plans to officially apply to the High Court to interview former Goldman Sachs banker Roger Ng.
Noting that Shafee had yet to actually make the application in the High Court, Akram said the defence lawyer’s remark amounts to pressuring the prosecution to agree with Najib’s bid to interview Ng.
“So this must be stopped, Yang Arif, we are taking strong objections to this. This should not be allowed, and as I said just now, this borders on contempt. The act borders on contempt, because it is already impeding what will happen in court,” Akram said.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Ahmad Akram Gharib
Shafee denied that he had made comments that would be contempt of court, and also disagreed that he had made “sub judice” remarks on the 1MDB trial.
Shafee claimed that he was responding to requests from the public to explain what Najib had testified in the court regarding his bid to get additional evidence in the US, and questioned why it would be contempt of court for him to “educate the press this is what we meant in court”.
“This is a free press country to a large extent, you can’t equate everything to be contempt or sub judice. It is not, it’s not even bordering,” he claimed, and said the prosecution should make an application to cite his remarks if it thinks it amounts to contempt.
Akram however said Shafee’s remarks are bordering on contempt as it could lead to trial by media, and urged the High Court to put a stop to Shafee’s remarks outside the courtroom on the 1MDB trial.
“It should be stopped, let it be inside this trial. Everybody knows this trial is being watched by the whole world, let’s be professional,” Akram said, pointing out that the prosecution itself has never taken the 1MDB trial out of the courtroom.
Urging for professionalism by the defence lawyers who are also officers of the court like the prosecution, Akram explained how Shafee’s remarks would pressure: “He brought it outside, get people to comment on it, nowadays with social media, people will start commenting, it will be on autopilot, and we will be pressured, that is the reality nowadays, we want it to be stopped, whatever happens after this, let us [cross-examine] before comments are made.”
Shafee’s press conference was streamed “live” on Najib’s official Facebook page.
At this point, judge Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah said: “Can I just suggest whatever applications Tan Sri wants to make, of course he has a right to make, maybe he can refrain from making statements about it.”
As Shafee claimed he was merely repeating to the media what he said in court this morning about his plans to apply this afternoon to interview Ng, the judge noted that the prosecution’s objection was on Shafee having allegedly gone beyond that.
The judge then said he did not have the transcript of Shafee’s lunchtime press conference, saying: “So far parties have been civil to each other, maybe we keep it that way.”
Shafee then said he will think “overnight” about his plans to apply to interview Ng and make a proper application.
“The only thing I can advise is perhaps not to make these statements out of the courtroom,” the judge said, while also acknowledging that Shafee is free to make applications as that is his legal right but added “can we leave it at that for the moment.”
Shafee accepted this by saying “fair enough”, before adding: “But I must say, so I’m not misleading, press statements every now and then will happen because everyone is making statements.”
The judge then reminded Shafee that the “complication” would be if such remarks stray into sub judice matters, with Shafee accepting this and the trial then resumed with Najib continuing to read out his witness statement.

- malaymail

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