Suspension of ‘whistleblower judge’ a blow to fight against corruption, says C4

[superadmin]

PETALING JAYA: The suspension of the “whistleblower judge” is a big blow to the nation’s efforts to protect those who are willing to come forward to expose corruption and misconduct, says the Center to Combat Corruption and Cronyism (C4).

It said the fate of Court of Appeal Judge Hamid Sultan Abu Backer who has been suspended until retirement over his affidavit alleging judicial misconduct would discourage future whistleblowers as they will now be less likely to come forward for fear of punishment.

Hamid was suspended for six months by the Judges’ Ethics Committee (JEC) after a hearing which he refused to attend as he wanted to challenge the composition and constitutionality of the committee.

His suspension took effect from yesterday and will run until Aug 27 when he retires from office. Three years ago, he had alleged that there was judicial interference in several high-profile cases.


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