MACC’s powers pertain to corruption, not judicial ethics: M’sian Bar president

[superadmin]

JOHOR BARU – Malaysian Bar president Karen Cheah found it strange that the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission’s (MACC) report to Chief Justice Tun Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat on its investigations into a former high court judge concerned breaches of judicial ethics, which are outside the enforcement authority’s purview.

Speaking to The Vibes, Cheah referred to news reports stating that Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reforms) Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said received a letter from the MACC which said that authorities had forwarded investigation details involving Court of Appeal judge Datuk Mohd Nazlan Ghazali to the chief justice.

“It has been reported that the report forwarded to the chief justice is in respect to their probe over breaches of the Judicial Code of Ethics (JECA).

“Firstly, why is the report from the MACC to the chief justice regarding JECA? The powers of the MACC pertain to corruption.

“The code of ethics is within the purview of the Judicial Ethics Committee,” Cheah told The Vibes when contacted on the matter.

Such a move, she explained, could result in the anti-corruption agency exceeding its statutory powers.

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