Najib Shafee S Second Bid To Oust Sri Ram Abuse Of Legal Process Agc

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The Attorney-General's Chambers (AGC) and two others want the Federal Court to determine whether Najib Abdul Razak and his lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah’s second legal bid to oust Gopal Sri Ram from prosecuting the duo’s criminal cases amount to an abuse of legal process and therefore “doomed to fail”
These are among the five questions of law that the AGC, former federal court judge Sri Ram and the government intend to submit to the Federal Court on Oct 15 in their application for leave to appeal against Najib and Shafee’s judicial review bid to disqualify Sri Ram as DPP
On Aug 7, the Federal Court upheld the ruling of both the Court of Appeal and the Kuala Lumpur High Court in dismissing former prime minister Najib’s bid to remove Sri Ram as DPP
However, on Aug 26, the Court of Appeal allowed separate appeals by Najib and Shafee to be granted leave to proceed with their judicial review bids to challenge the legality of Sri Ram’s appointment as DPP

Sri Ram is currently the lead DPP in Najib's ongoing RM2.28 billion 1MDB trial and Shafee's RM9.5 million money laundering case, among others
The notice of appeal, in which the five questions of law are attached, and an affidavit-in-support by DPP Ahmad Akram Gharib were filed at the Federal Court Registry at Putrajaya on Sept 18
According to a copy made available to Malaysiakini today, among the five questions of law are whether Najib and Shafee are precluded from filing a second legal bid in the civil court after a similar application at the criminal court level had already been dismissed
The Palace of Justice, PutrajayaThe appeal, in part, read:“Whether the doctrines of res judicata and/or estoppel, in any event, preclude the accused from filing the second application which, if granted, would have the effect of disqualifying the DPP
“Whether, in any event, the accused, by filing a second application which, if granted, would have the effect of disqualifying the DPP, is thereby acting in abuse of process and consequently barred from so applying."Under law, the Latin phrase res judicata refers to a matter that has already been decided on by the court and therefore precludes the same issue from being brought again to court
Meanwhile, estoppel refers to situation where the court may stop someone from bringing legal action if it is related to a similar one already decided in court
The AGC's appeal also stated that leave to appeal was also sought from the Federal Court to determine whether judicial review applications “totally without merit” or “doomed/bound to fail” should be denied leave to proceed in the first place due to these legal actions being “hopeless cases” such as the present ones by Najib and Shafee
In support of the appeal, Akram’s affidavit-in-support contended that the five legal questions posed “raised important questions of general principle decided for the first time and/or questions of importance upon which further argument and decision of the Federal Court would be to public advantage."“The questions posed will clarify to what extent the accused (Najib) in a criminal (trial) having unsuccessfully applied to the Court of Appeal and Federal Court failed, is entitled (to) apply for similar order to disqualify the DPP simultaneously and/or subsequently in civil proceedings,” stated the affidavit further
While the appeal by the AGC, Sri Ram and the government will come up for hearing before the Federal Court on Oct 15, Najib and Shafee’s judicial review is still proceeding at the Kuala Lumpur High Court level and has been fixed for hearing before judge Mariana Yahya on Oct 25. - Mkini

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