Court has no power to get prosecutor to withdraw charges -- CJ

PUTRAJAYA, July 10 -- The court does not have the power to direct or urge the public prosecutor to file or withdraw charges against any party in criminal cases," said Chief Justice Tan Sri Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat.

"The court cannot force or push the prosecution to proceed with a trial on a charge brought in court, if the prosecution has decided to drop or withdraw the charge," she said.

"This is the legal situation in our country," she said in her speech at the taking-of-oath of office and loyalty ceremony of Federal Court and Appeals Court judges, as well as judicial commissioners held at the Conference Hall in the Palace of Justice.

She said just because there were third parties who disagreed with the prosecutor's decision not to proceed with the charges which had been filed in court, this does not mean that court or judges had acted dishonestly, conspired, were in favour of any particular party or were involved in corrupt practices.

“It is deeply saddening and extremely disturbing that of late, the judiciary had been repeatedly criticised only because the prosecutor, in exercising their discretionary power under Article 15 Clause (3) of the Federal Constitution, had decided to withdraw some charges in some high-profile cases," said Maimun.

Maimun said the decision could only be made by the public prosecutor, not by other parties, including the court.

Tengku Maimun said indiscriminate accusations without any basis against the court and judges would undermine the people's confidence in the credibility of the institution, which has been entrusted to judge disputes independently, fairly and based on the rule of law.

She called on the public to be more responsible in giving comments on the handling of court cases, especially comments that touch on the integrity of the judges.

"Believe me, the court does not favour any particular person or group and is only in favour of the law and justice. Judges stand by this oath," said Tengku Maimun.

She said while it was true that there were judges involved in corrupt practices, she called on anyone with such information to report to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) so that proper investigation and legal action could be taken.

"It is important to note that we are now technology driven where information  can be disseminated quickly and widely. Therefore, anything posted on social media will spread all over the country and will go viral worldwide,” she said. 

Tengku Maimun said readers have no way of verifying what had been written on social media and would assume that they were true.

In her speech, she stressed that the Judiciary had never taken the stand that judges should not be criticised, saying that it was ready to accept constructive criticism on decisions made by the courts.

"The Judiciary is responsible to the community and any constructive criticism can further improve quality in executing justice," she said.

However, Tengku Maimun said the criticism should be honest and with reasonable courtesy within the limits of the law.

She added that judges should not pick and choose disputes that they wish to hear.

"We adjudicate all cases that come before us. We are therefore bound to hear cases which attract public attention and which involve political figures, from whichever side of the divide," said Tengku Maimun who added that judges do not decide cases based on popular public views but decide cases based on evidence and the law.

She said the reality is that, no matter how impartial judges are or how detached judges are from politics, their decisions would be viewed from a political perspective or with a political flavour, because unfortunately, public perception of the Judiciary is shaped by the political landscape. 

"In that regard, we must be prepared to withstand public scrutiny and be prepared to swallow the hurtful, unfair and baseless allegations against us, if our decisions do not tally with public opinion," she said.

-- BERNAMA