Judge recuses herself in Zaid Ibrahim, lawyers’ Bar defamation appeal

KUALA LUMPUR: The appeal by former law minister Zaid Ibrahim and two other lawyers seeking to overturn a High Court ruling dismissing their defamation suit against the Malaysian Bar was adjourned today after a Court of Appeal judge recused herself.

At the outset of proceedings, Justice Latifah Tahar, the most junior member of the three-member panel, disclosed that her husband, Azmi Ali, was currently one of the 38 members of the Bar Council.

Ashok Kandiah, appearing for Zaid, Liew Teck Huat and Rueben Mathiavaranam, said he needed to take instructions from his clients.

Andrew Chiew, representing the Malaysian Bar and its former president Karen Cheah, also sought time to consult his clients.

Both lawyers, however, stressed that they did not question Latifah’s impartiality.

Bench chairman Choo Kah Sing then stood the matter down to allow both sides to consider their positions. The other panel member was Justice Faizah Jamaludin.

When proceedings resumed, Ashok said it was best that Latifah recuse herself, in the interest of justice and to allay any perceptions.

Chiew said the Bar agreed with the request, and that justice must not only be done but seen to be done.

“For that reason, we will accede to the appellants’ request for this matter to be heard before another bench,” he said.

The court fixed July 13 for case management to set a fresh hearing date before a differently constituted panel.

On May 29 last year, High Court judge Roz Mawar Rozain dismissed the libel suit, ruling that Zaid, Liew and Mathiavaranam failed to prove on a balance of probabilities that they had been defamed.

The three lawyers filed the suit on Sept 30, 2022, against the Malaysian Bar and Cheah over a press statement issued on Aug 19, 2022 pertaining to the trio’s conduct during Najib Razak’s final appeal in the SRC International case.

The judge held that the Bar’s statement did not lower the plaintiffs’ reputation in the eyes of ordinary, reasonable persons. She also dismissed their claims of conspiracy to injure and breach of statutory duty under the Legal Profession Act 1976.