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DATUK Seri Najib Razak today failed in his attempt to recuse High Court judge Alice Loke Yee Ching from presiding over his judicial review relating to the royal addendum that would allow him to serve his jail sentence under house arrest.
Lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah made an oral application for the judge to recuse herself.
He argued that her earlier remarks in the decision for Najib's leave application to initiate contempt proceedings against former attorney general Tan Sri Ahmad Terrirudin Mohd Salleh gave rise to a possible perception of bias.
Loke, in dismissing the application said that there was no issue of bias in her decision last week to dismiss Najib's application to begin contempt proceedings against Ahmad Terrirudin.
Shafee said his client, Najib, had instructed him to raise the matter to avoid later complications in the proceedings.
"The duty of candour, especially at the leave stage, is one of the cornerstones of judicial review. After carefully studying the notes of evidence, we believe the issue gives rise to recusal.
"We are of the view for Yang Arif to consider recusing yourself. We put all cups facing upward on the table," he said.
“I've considered the invitation. When I decided on the duty of candour, it was in the context of leave application for committal.
“My findings must be seen in this context,” said Loke.
On Sept 4, Loke dismissed the former Pekan member of parliament's leave application to commence contempt proceedings against Terrirudin.
She said Terrirudin, who now serves as a Federal Court judge, was under no obligation to either confirm or deny the existence of the alleged addendum order at the leave stage of the judicial review.
The judge, in her decision, said Najib failed to prove prima facie in the case for contempt.
The court then fixed Nov 24 for the substantive hearing of Najib's judicial review on the addendum order.
Najib was convicted of misappropriating RM42 million from SRC International Sdn Bhd and has been serving his sentence at Kajang prison since Aug 23, 2022.
On Aug 13, the Federal Court upheld a 2-1 majority decision by the Court of Appeal that instructed for Najib's judicial review application on the addendum order be remitted back to the High Court for a full hearing.
The former prime minister named the home minister, the Commissioner General of Prisons, the attorney-general, the Federal Territories Pardons Board, the minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Law and Institutional Reform), the director-general of the legal affairs at the Prime Minister's Department and the government as the first until the seventh respondents respectively.
In the notice of application, Najib sought a mandamus order that all of the respondents or one of them answer and verify the existence of the addendum order dated Jan 29, 2024. - September 11, 2025
