Court of Appeal Judge Datuk Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali has lodged a police report against an online portal which alleged he was being investigated over unexplained wealth in his account.
The judiciary via the Office of the Chief Registrar of the Federal Court confirmed this in a statement today.
It described the Malaysia Today article as ‘false, baseless, and malicious allegations’ aimed to tarnish Nazlan’s credibility as a Court of Appeal judge.
“A police report has been made by Nazlan denying the false, baseless, and malicious accusations in that article that were indented to reduce his credibility as a Court of Appeal judge and to interfere with the justice system and the judicial institution.
“The report was made so the police can investigate the matter under Section 500 of the Penal Code, Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998.
“We want to remind the public that accusations against the judiciary which are intended to interfere with on-going cases is a violation of the principle of sub judice,” said the statement.
The online portal, on April 19, carried an article by Raja Petra Kamaruddin titled ‘Judge Mohd Nazlan being investigated for unexplained RM1 million in his bank’. It is said the RM1 million in cash, which Nazlan banked into his Maybank account, is part of a RM2 million payment from fugitive financier Low Taek Jho for “services rendered”.
The statement also urged the police to conduct immediate investigation to preserved the public’s confidence in the judiciary.
Nazlan was elevated to Court of Appeal judge on Feb 3, 2022.
Nazlan, in 2020, who was then a High Court judge, convicted Datuk Seri Najib Razak to 12 years’ jail and fined RM210 million after the latter was found guilty of seven charges related to the misappropriation RM42 million of SRC International funds.
The Court of Appeal affirmed Najib’s conviction and the case is now pending before the Federal Court.
Meanwhile, this is not the first time a police report has been made about news articles questioning the Nazlan’s credibility.
Last month, a police report was made by the Federal Court chief registrar over two news articles implicating judge Nazlan in the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) and SRC scandal.
In a statement, the office of the chief registrar said the two articles affected the course of the administration of criminal justice and the judiciary.
Malaysia Now ran the story ‘Group calling for Najib’s pardon now wants judge Nazlan arrested’, while Malaysia Today ran ‘Shocking revelation: Najib’s trial judge Nazlan’s conflict-of-interest exposed’.
Both articles were published on March 14.