The lawyers of former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad today sent a letter to the Federal Court over holding a watching brief in PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim’s review of a decision made by the apex court.
Citing coram failure, Anwar had earlier this month filed a review of a decision against him made by a Federal Court bench led by Court of Appeals president Zulkefli Ahmad Makinudin due to the judge having surpassed the mandatory retirement age.
The letter comes on the heels of Mahathir’s lawyers filing an appeal yesterday to challenge the appointment of Zulkefli and Chief Justice Md Raus Sharif (photo), also over the judges' ages.
Mahathir's counsel, Haniff Khatri Abdulla, told Malaysiakini that the letter for his firm to hold a watching brief in Anwar's review, scheduled to be heard on Nov 27, was sent to the Federal Court registrar this morning.
In the letter sighted by Malaysiakini, Haniff said they believe the hearing of Anwar's review is related to the same issue raised by Mahathir.
“This concerns our challenge regarding the appointment CJ Justice Md Raus and Court of Appeal president Justice Zulkefli beyond the constitutional mandatory retirement age of 66 years and six months.
“We have written in to give leave for us to attend the review proceedings on Monday or any subsequent dates decided,” the letter states.
The review filed by Anwar pertained to the decision that he would not need to be present in court for the appeal in his case against the Election Commission.
The opposition leader wants a fresh hearing in the review, after the initial dismissal on Oct 27, citing the presence of Zulkefli on the bench.
Mahathir’s challenge against the two judges, meanwhile, was dismissed by the Kuala Lumpur High Court earlier this month.
Justice Azizah Nawawi had ruled that Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak has no statutory duty to advise the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to revoke the appointments of the CJ and Court of Appeal president as additional judges.
Mahathir filed an appeal against the decision yesterday.
According to Haniff, the Court of Appeal today also fixed Feb 6 to hear Mukhriz Mahathir's appeal over contempt charges against the prime minister, which the High Court dismissed in July.- Mkini
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.