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Lawyer sues judge, faces contempt action

Tuesday, 09 September 2008 09:33am

Lawyer sues judge, faces contempt action ©New Straits Times (Used by permission)
by V. Anbalagan

PUTRAJAYA: A Seremban-based lawyer who filed a RM30 million suit against a High Court judge has been asked to show cause why he should not be cited for contempt.

Mohamed Azmi Ismail has to attend the High Court in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday to explain himself and purge the contempt action.

This means he would have to prove that his court action in filing the suit against High Court judge Datuk Mohd Hishamudin Mohd Yunus did not amount to showing disrespect to the judge or scandalising the court.

The proceedings were initiated by the attorney-general following a complaint.

Judge Datuk Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat had, on Aug 28, granted leave to the attorney-general to begin proceedings against Azmi.

That application was allowed on grounds that the attorney-general had established a case against the lawyer for contempt.

On Thursday, Azmi or his counsel would respond to the allegation of contempt, followed by a reply from a senior federal counsel before Tengku Maimun.

The court would then decide whether there was contempt.

Punishment ranges from imposing a custodial sentence to admonishing the lawyer for such demeaning conduct.

Azmi, who appeared for a client in a civil suit, is said to have filed the RM30 million suit against Hishamudin for the judge's alleged failure to, among others, deliver his ruling on time and for being malicious against the litigant.

He claimed that Hishamudin's act or omission resulted in his client suffering financial losses.

However, that suit was struck out by High Court judge Datuk Ramly Ali last year.

In the past, there have been cases of the attorney-general filing proceedings against lawyers for showing disrespect to judges.

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Are we holding a watching brief
written by Shanmuga Kanesalingam, Wednesday, September 10 2008 09:53 am

I think the Bar Council should hold a watching brief, and get the full facts of this case so members of the Bar are fully appraised of this case, which may have far reaching implications on our practice.

At first sight, it appears that a lawyer is being threatened with contempt for filing something, albeit something probably that was doomed to failure from its inception, on behalf of his client. The Federal Court in Zainur Zakaria v PP says that this cannot be contempt, if I am not mistaken.

Although Hishamuddin J is a Judge all of us at the Bar fully respect for his integrity, the bludgeon of a contempt action should still be very rarely used and I think the Bar Council really needs to keep tabs on this case.

Shanmuga Kanesalingam

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