UMNO's Full Control of the Malaysian Judiciary Through Its Long Time Stalwart, Tan Sir Zaki Azmi, Chief Justice of Malaya

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Chief Justice Zaki Azmi was an UMNO member and served as a Legal Advisor to UMNO. His previous position in UMNO was as the Chairman of UMNO's Disciplinary Committee. Chief Justice Zaki Azmi was an UMNO member and served as a Legal Advisor to UMNO. He had also served as Umno Selection Committee Secretary and a Deputy Chairperson of Umno’s Disciplinary Board Appeal Panel.

His ties to UMNO is too deep for him to ensure the independence of the judiciary especially in cases involving the interest of UMNO or UMNO cronies. He has only served the judiciary for less than 5 years in total before becoming the Chief Justice, an unprecedented leap-frogging to the top post in the Judiciary with help of the UMNO-led Government.

He became the FIRST person to be appointed straight to the Federal Court, bypassing the convention of first serving in the High Court and the Court of Appeal.

Zaki married Nor Hayati Yahaya, 32, in May 2005 in a ceremony presided by a kadi from THAILAND and the marriage had fallen apart after three months. Both had agreed to burn the original marriage certificate to hide the matter from his first wife. Read here for more

As UMNO’s legal man, Tan Sri Zaki Azmi was involved with the UMNO's myriad scandalous financial misadventures that were bailed out by the government in the heydays of former Prime Minister Mahathir’s crony-capitalism during the last Asian financial crisis." (Asia Sentinel - 7 December 2007)

Can Malaysians expect justice in cases involving top Umno leaders when there is an Umno Chief Justice, Tan Sri Zaki Azmi?

by

Lim Kit Siang
Member of Parliament

The question bugging Malaysians in the past 20 months have finally come to the very fore – whether Malaysians can expect justice in cases involving top Umno leaders when the Chief Justice, Tan Sri Zaki Azmi had been a long-time Umno lawyer and stalwart?

When Zaki was appointed directly as Federal Court judge in September 2007, it is open secret that he was headed for what turned out to be a quintuple jump as Chief Justice in a matter of 13 months.

(Read here for more on Tan Sri Zaki's illustrious career in UMNO, and here )

Both inside and outside Parliament, the propriety of Zaki’s appointment as Chief Justice and how it could help in restoring national and international confidence in the independence, impartiality and integrity of the judiciary was raised – with no attempt by the Prime Minister of-the-day to give proper and acceptable answers.

This question has again come to the very fore because of the super-fast-tracking by the Court of Appeal of the application by the usurper Perak Mentri Besar Datuk Zambry Abdul Kadir to “stay” the declaration of the Justice Datuk Abdul Aziz Abdul Rahim in the Nizar vs Zambry case that Datuk Seri Mohd Nizar Jamaluddin is the lawful Mentri Besar of Perak.

The Outright Bias by One Month-Old Novice in Court of Appeal and former High Court Judge in COMMERCIAL DIVISION, Ramly Mohd Ali

Many questions cry out for answer as to:

How could a single-judge Court of Appeal (Ramly Mohd Ali) in a short hearing, in a few hours after the filing of the application, grant a “stay” of the declaration by the Kuala Lumpur High Court judge made in an one-hour reasoned judgment after three days of arguments.

Yesterday, Nizar’s solicitors were informed by fax of Zambry’s appeal:

* 10.07 am – letter to Court of Appeal requesting early date;
* 10.43 am – informed that application for stay fixed on the same day, no time of hearing stated.
* 10.52 am – notice of appeal.

Nizar’s lawyers were NOT given proper notice of the hearing by single-judge Court of Appeal at 11.30 am on the application by Zambry’s lawyers for “stay” of declaration, although Zambry’s application was filed at 9 am and application for stay at 9.30 am.

These time-lines for the “super-fast” Court of Appeal proceedings are pertinent.

(Note: It took almost 2 years for the Court of Appeal to finally reject Canny Ong murder appeal after the High court convicted Ahmad Najib Aris for raping and murdering the IT analyst. On Feb 23, 2005, the Shah Alam High Court sentenced Ahmad Najib to death for raping and murdering Canny Ong, 29, at the 11th kilometre of Jalan Klang Lama between 1am and 5am on June 14, 2003. Read here for more

Nizar’s solicitors have filed his application to discharge Zamry’s “stay” order at the Court of Appeal, Palace of Justice, Putrajaya after lunch.

Is the Court of Appeal prepared to equally fast-track today to have a three-judge bench to convene in special session for the discharge of Zambry’s “stay” order?