Newly appointed Chief Justice Md Raus Sharif has expressed hope that the time taken for criminal cases to reach the Federal Court would take less than three years.

In his first press conference after his appointment today, the chief justice pointed out how murder trials, before reforms made by his predecessors Zaki Azmi and Arifin Zakaria, would sometimes take up to 10 years to reach the Federal Court.

"(But) recently one case (which I heard took) about four years, and we are going to reduce the time frame.

"If we can do it in one year in the High Court, nine months in the Court of Appeal and nine months in the Federal Court, that would be great.

"It can be earlier but that's the target," said Md Raus.

Md Raus' successor as the President of the Court of Appeal Zulkefli Ahmad Makinudin, also stressed the importance in expediting the process for criminal cases.

"We don't want convicted persons having to linger in prison for years.

"Just imagine if at the end of the day, they are acquitted, (then) they have been detained under remand for six, seven years."

Backlog at Shah Alam

Priority, he added, should be given to criminal cases to ensure that justice is done even though the individuals may have been convicted.

Meanwhile, asked on reasons for the delay in such cases reaching the Federal Court, Md Raus cited the high concentration of cases at the Shah Alam Sessions Court, as one example.

"This is because of (drug) trafficking cases. In Shah Alam (there are) about 500 cases.

"The same investigating officer and the same chemist is involved. They have to take turns which court they have to go," he said.

As such, one of the first things Md Raus plans to do is to go to Shah Alam next week with newly appointed Chief Justice of Malaya Ahmad Maarof.

"I want to address that problem. If need be, to discuss with the attorney-general and lawyers on how to solve this problem," he added.