Malaysia’s top judges step down hinh anh 1 Raus Sharif (R) and Zulkefli Ahmad Makinudin (Source: freemalaysiatoday.com)
 
Hanoi (VNA) – Malaysia’s top judges – Chief Justice Raus Sharif and Court of Appeal President Zulkefli Ahmad Makinudin – have resigned from their posts.

According to a statement from the Chief Registrar’s Office of the Malaysian Federal Court, the two officials will step down from their posts on July 31 and their resignations have been accepted by King Sultan Muhammad on June 8.

Raus and Zulkefli were appointed to their positions last year, with their term controversially extended past their constitutional retirement age under the government of ousted Prime Minister Najib Razak.

Former PM Mahathir Mohamad made a comeback as new Malaysian PM after his party, the opposition Pakatan Harapan (PH or Alliance of Hope), won the country’s general election in May.

His new government has been making moves to fight corruption, particularly with the investigation of financial irregularities at the strategic investment fund – 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), involving a number of top officials.

1MDB is formed by then PM Najib Razak in 2009 with an aim to serve the country’s socio-economic development. Najib was accused for the loss of 3.7 billion USD in transactions with other countries through the 1MDB. However, the fund representative and the former leader repeatedly rejected the accusation.

New PM Mahathir Mohamad has vowed to investigate the case and reclaim the loss.

Last week, Malaysia’s central bank governor Muhammad Ibrahim submitted his resignation amid overhaul by the new government in the investigation of the 1MDB scandal.

Also last week, Malaysia appointed the new attorney-general, Tommy Thomas, who said he would pursue criminal and civil actions over people connected to the multi-billion dollar scandal.

Thomas was brought in to replace Mohamed Apandi Ali, who was appointed in 2016 by Najib.-VNA
VNA