KUALA LUMPUR (May 19): The High Court today set June 15 to deliver its judgment on whether Umno supreme council member Datuk Lokman Noor Adam will be held in contempt of court for allegedly threatening a witness in former premier Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) trial.
The committal proceedings were heard before Justice Collin Lawrence Sequerah this morning by lawyers for the prosecution and defence, and the date was set thereafter by the judge.
Former attorney-general Tan Sri Tommy Thomas obtained leave from the High Court in 2019 to initiate contempt proceedings against Lokman for allegedly uttering words in a video interview on Sept 25 of the same year, and that the words constituted an implied threat against former special officer Datuk Amhari Efendi Nazaruddin for giving evidence in Najib’s trial.
Lokman was represented by Najib’s lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah while former Federal Court Judge Datuk Seri Gopal Sri Ram appeared for the prosecution.
Sri Ram argued that this was an interference of justice by Lokman, stating that Lokman had threatened his witness and attacked the courts.
“There is an intention [by Lokman] to interfere with the administration of justice, an attempt to set aside a case (1MDB) before your lordship,” Sri Ram said today.
Sri Ram had justified this by saying that in the aforementioned video in 2019, Lokman claimed that Najib was being “victimised” by the court and that there was no reason for the trial to continue.
Sri Ram said that based on the facts of the case, Lokman had intended the 1MDB trial to be stopped and had suggested that Najib is innocent and should be acquitted in the trial.
“He is asking the court to prejudge the case without hearing all the evidence. That is an interference of justice,” Sri Ram said before asking the judge to convict Lokman for contempt.
Shafee in his rebuttal said the show cause given to Lokman was incomplete and did not state the details of the contemptuous acts he was being charged for.
Shafee then said Amhari had never complained about being threatened. The lawyer stated the prosecution had taken it upon themselves to first initiate the proceedings against Lokman.
Earlier this year, Lokman lost his final appeal at the Federal Court to set aside the leave obtained by the attorney-general to commence committal proceedings against him.
A five-member Federal Court bench, led by Chief Justice Tun Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat, dismissed Lokman’s appeal, ruling that the show cause notice issued to him was not defective as claimed by his counsel Shafee.
She said the notice need not be issued by the court but by any party who moved the court for the contempt proceedings.
Tengku Maimun said the statement and affidavit-in-support by the public prosecutor were sufficient to inform Lokman of the alleged contempt that he needed to answer.
Thomas obtained leave from the High Court in 2019 to initiate contempt proceedings against Lokman.
Lokman had lodged a police report against Amhari — the eighth prosecution witness — in respect of the evidence given by him in Najib’s trial.
On Jan 14, 2020, the High Court dismissed Lokman’s application to set aside the former attorney-general’s ex parte order for leave to commence committal proceedings. Lokman subsequently lost his appeal in the Court of Appeal in May 2020.
