Shafee: Najib may disqualify 1MDB trial judge over past Jasmine Loo link

KUALA LUMPUR, July 27 — Datuk Seri Najib Razak is considering seeking to have judge Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah disqualified from hearing his trial over 1Malaysia Development Berhad’s (1MDB) RM2.28 billion which was said to have gone into the former prime minister's personal bank accounts, his lawyer told the High Court today.

Najib’s lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah said he has received instruction from his client to consider taking the position of asking for the judge to be disqualified, following the judge’s disclosure yesterday that 1MDB’s former general counsel Jasmine Loo was previously a partner in the same law firm as him many years ago.

“Therefore, Yang Arif, we are suggesting that we be given the time to take a position whether to ask for Yang Arif to make a disqualification,” Shafee said this morning, adding that he intends to present the arguments on August 14.

Shafee acknowledged that the judge might have been “taken by surprise” yesterday when he learned the possibility of the recently-arrested Loo potentially being a witness in this trial and that the mention of that possibility yesterday resulted in the judge’s disclosure of the past situation.

But Shafee said there was a “strong possibility” that the judge should have been disqualified when previous prosecution witnesses mentioned Loo’s name in this 1MDB trial — the eighth, ninth, 10th, 12th, 13th, 17th, 26th, 32nd, 41st, 43rd and 44th witnesses, and that this issue does not only crop up when the question of whether Loo would be a witness in this trial was brought up yesterday.

“Total excluding the witness statements, that would have been mentioned is 656 times in 167 days of trial. This is the number of times Jasmine Loo’s role has been mentioned and her name uttered.

“So we are taking the position whether Jasmine Loo is called or not, this would have rendered the possibility the position that Yang Arif ought to disqualify yourself in view of Yang Arif’s previous relationship as a partner in a firm.

“Now as I’ve said, Yang Arif, this position we will only crystallise later, not now, today we can’t possibly do it in all fairness. When we submit, senior counsels are expected to be more thorough with their work, to be fair to the court we will do a thorough job, our submission will be in the form of advice to the court, this is to inform Yang Arif,” he said.

Shafee had said that his legal team had looked through UK, Australian, Malaysian and US laws on this issue and found it to be quite complicated, and would need time to prepare.

Shafee had said the first prosecution witness in the 1MDB trial to mention Loo's name was Najib's former aide Datuk Amhari Efendi Nazaruddin (mentioned Loo's name six times), followed by ninth witness and former 1MDB CEO Datuk Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi (374 times), 10th witness and former 1MDB CEO Mohd Hazem Abd Rahman (150 times), 12th witness and former 1MDB chief financial officer Azmi Tahir (79 times), and 13th witness and former 1MDB director Tan Sri Ismee Ismail (10 times).

Shafee also listed the rest who mentioned Loo's name in the trial as the 17th witness and 1MDB's former company secretary Goh Gaik Kim (six times), 26th witness and former Finance Ministry deputy secretary-general Datuk Siti Zauyah Md Desa (one time), 32nd witness and law firm Wong and Partners partner Mark Lim Chin Hian (12 times), 41st witness and former AmBank relationship manager Joanna Yu (twice), 43rd witness and financial news outlet The Edge owner Tan Sri Tong Kooi Ong (one time) and 44th witness and former BSI banker Kevin Michael Swampillai (15 times so far).

When asked by Shafee if the judge wishes to have any clarifications, the judge said: “No, I’ll deal with it when the time comes.”

Shafee then continued his cross-examination of the 44th prosecution witness, former BSI banker Kevin Michael Swampillai.

Yesterday, Shafee informed the High Court that his client Najib’s instruction was to ask whether the prosecution would call in Loo as a prosecution witness or if she would be offered as a defence witness for Najib.

The prosecution yesterday said it had yet to receive the outcome of Malaysian authorities' investigation on Loo, and that there was no decision yet on whether Loo would be a witness in Najib's 1MDB trial.

The judge had yesterday then informed the courtroom that Loo was previously in the same law firm many years ago which could be as far back as 10 to 15 years ago, agreeing with Shafee's suggestion that the law firm was Zain & Co and not a small law firm.

The judge yesterday said Loo and him were among partners in this medium to big-sized law firm in the past and that Loo had later left the law firm. This was before Sequerah became a judge.

Loo was reported to have been arrested earlier this month, with her lawyers saying that she had surrendered herself after spending years away from Malaysia and intending to help Malaysia recover 1MDB assets.