PUTRAJAYA: The husband of Chief Justice Tun Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat publicly expressed his hatred for Datuk Seri Najib Razak several years prior to the start of 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) trial in court, the Federal Court heard today.
Counsel Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah argued that Datuk Zamani Ibrahim's Facebook post in 2018, which condemned the former prime minister's administration, was a clear indication of his public declaration of hatred towards Najib.
Shafee said Zamani, despite not being a politician, was politicking the issue by portraying Najib as the rogue in the 1MDB financial scandal.
"He concluded that Najib was guilty even before the 1MDB scandal and its then subsidiary company, SRC International Bhd case were moved in the court.
"He (Zamani) is a friend of mine, but his post is a public declaration of hatred against my client.
"This is the husband of the CJ. If you have a Facebook account, you can read the posting.
"I am not saying the chief justice must have a common view, but there must be a sharing of opinion between husband and wife," he said.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Datuk V. Sithambaram, earlier, argued that Zamani's posting did not show the latter had any personal animosity towards Najib but rather was just a general comment of a citizen on social media.
He said it (the post) did not meet the threshold for Najib to use as a reason to recuse Tengku Maimun from presiding over his final appeal to overturn the 12-year jail sentence and RM210 million fine for misappropriation of SRC International funds.
He said the application for recusal was without merit and mala fide as spousal relationship alone was insufficient to meet the legal threshold for bias and recusal.
Sithambaram added the application was also a desperate last-minute attempt to scuttle the Appeals.
Najib then lead counsel Datuk Hisyam Teh Poh Teik had applied to recuse Tengku Maimun based on "certain information" they received two or three days before Najib's main appeal at the top court.
Hisyam said he had received information about a Facebook post made by Zamani on May 11, 2018 which touched on Barisan Nasional's (BN) defeat in the 14th General Election (GE14) and Najib's leadership.
Najib said the social media post was highly disturbing in light of the fact that Zamani had clearly shown negative sentiments towards his leadership while he was the prime minister.
He said Zamani had concluded that Najib had syphoned sovereign government funds into his personal accounts.
Najib, 70, is seeking a review of the Federal Court's decision to reject his application to adduce fresh evidence relating to the High Court judge Datuk Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali.
He is also seeking a review of the court's decision to dismiss his bid to postpone his appeal hearing as well as the decision to recuse Chief Justice Tun Tengku Maimun.
He is also seeking a review of the court's decision on Aug 23 last year, to affirm his conviction and sentence.
The former prime minister was found guilty of abuse of power in relation to a RM4 billion loan given by Retirement Fund (Inc) (KWAP) to SRC between August 2011 and March 2012.
He was also convicted of criminal breach of trust and money laundering involving RM42 million of SRC funds between Dec 26, 2014 and Feb 10, 2015.
