FMT:
Dr M moves to disqualify
Batu Puteh RCI chief for
alleged bias
The former prime minister also wants RCI members Baljit Singh Sidhu and Ridha Abd Kadir to be recused as they are in a conflict of interest.
KUALA LUMPUR: Dr Mahathir Mohamad has filed a judicial review application in the High Court here to disqualify former chief justice Raus Sharif from being head of the Batu Puteh royal commission of inquiry (RCI).
The former prime minister also wants RCI members Baljit Singh Sidhu and Ridha Abd Kadir to recuse themselves from being part of the tribunal.
In legal papers filed through Messrs Law Practice of Rafique and sighted by FMT, Mahathir claimed that Raus would be biased as the RCI chairman, while Baljit and Ridha were in a conflict of interest position.
The 98-year-old, who was prime minister for the second time between May 2018 and February 2020, also wants a declaration that he, as a subject matter of the inquiry, has a right to legal representation under Section 18 of the Royal Commission of Enquiry Act 1950.
He also wants a mandamus order to compel the seven-member commission to allow his lawyers to be present during proceedings, serve his counsel with all documents including a witness list, and conduct the inquiry in public.
In addition, Mahathir wants all ongoing proceedings to be suspended pending the disposal of his judicial review application.
However, he has to first obtain leave from the court for his complaints to be heard.
Two weeks ago, Mahathir claimed he was not notified of the RCI proceedings that were held behind closed doors.
Mahathir said an objection by his lawyers, Rafique Rashid Ali and Zainur Zakaria, over not being notified was also dismissed. The lawyers were also barred from attending the proceedings, he added.
Rafique previously argued that Raus’s appointment was a gross violation of natural justice as he was an interested party.
He said Mahathir had in 2017 filed a judicial review to challenge the legality of Raus’s appointment as an additional judge of the Federal Court after the retirement age set out in the Federal Constitution.
The appointment would have seen him retain his position as chief justice until August 2020.
On May 15, 2018, Raus met with Mahathir before tendering his resignation as chief justice to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong on June 7, 2018, which the king accepted four days later.
On Feb 3, 2017, Putrajaya filed an application to review the 2008 decision of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that Singapore had sovereignty over Batu Puteh.
However, in 2018, the Pakatan Harapan government under Mahathir withdrew the application before the case came up for hearing on June 11, 2018.
Rafique said it was common knowledge that the RCI was convened to inquire into the decision made by Mahathir’s administration to withdraw two applications for the ICJ to review the ruling it had made 10 years earlier.
The lawyer said RCI members Baljit and Ridha were also members of a special task force set up in 2021 to scrutinise and give recommendations regarding Batu Puteh, including a review of laws.
He said the duo could not be in the RCI as they would have predetermined the issues.
On Feb 14 this year, Yang di-Pertuan Agong Sultan Ibrahim consented to Raus leading the RCI to look into why Malaysia dropped its territorial claim to Batu Puteh.
Former Federal Court judge Zainun Ali is the panel’s deputy chairman. Other members are former Universiti Malaya law faculty dean Johan Shamsuddin Sabaruddin, constitutional and administrative law expert Faridah Jalil, and Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency southern region director Dickson Dollah.
WHY BOTHER WITH THIS RCI??? STUPID PMX ANWAR....BETTER RCI ON LCS....MISSING SHIP $8-10 BILLION RINGGIT CORRUPTION AND GET THAT BANGSAT HISSAPMUDDIN HUSSEIN...ALSO RCI TABUNG HAJI ETERNAL SINK HOLE OF DEBT AND CONSTANT BAIL OUT TO THE TUNE OF $68 BILLION AND COUNTING....GO TO HELL LAH TERRORIST SUPPORTING MALAYSIAL!
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