Attorney-General Dusuki Mokhtar is appealing the High Court’s acquittal of former Umno Supreme Council member Isham Jalil of contempt over remarks on Najib Razak‘s 1MDB-related cases.
“The attorney-general still wants me to go to jail or be fined. I will fight this,” Isham said in a Facebook post, in which he shared a screenshot of the notice of appeal.
In the ruling on July 8, Justice K Muniandy said the prosecution failed to prove that Isham’s statements, made in late 2023, posed a real risk of interference in the administration of justice.
He also said the allegation that Isham’s statements had scandalised the judiciary appeared untrue.
The statements in question were made during an interview titled “Townhall for Justice: Keadilan Sebenarnya Untuk Siapa” published on Sept 30 through the “Malaya Post” Facebook account.
Deputy public prosecutor Mustapha Kunyalam claimed Isham had commented on Najib’s 1MDB and SRC International trials, and on the Federal Court’s conduct of the final appeal in the latter case.
Isham allegedly accused Justices Collin Lawrence Sequerah and Nazlan Ghazali of bias and said they should have withdrawn from hearing the cases.
Sequerah is presiding over Najib’s 1MDB trial in the High Court while Nazlan was the judge who convicted the former prime minister in the SRC case.
Mustapha also said Isham claimed that the panel of five judges who heard Najib’s final appeal from his conviction and sentence in the SRC case had judged the case unfairly.
He said Isham’s statements could undermine the public’s confidence in the judiciary and be considered as interference with the administration of justice.
However, Muniandy ruled that the attorney-general had not discharged the burden of proof in the case before him, adding that criticism levelled by Isham against the courts’ various decisions were within reasonable limits.
He said the law of contempt was not designed to protect judges or their dignity but to ensure that the administration of justice was not obstructed.
