Former premier Najib Abdul Razak is “shocked and bitterly disappointed” with the Federal Court’s decision not to allow his application to adduce additional evidence linked to the RM42 million SRC International corruption case.
“I believe the evidence would clearly indicate that judge Mohd Nazlan (Mohd Ghazali) was heavily conflicted,” he told a press conference at the Palace of Justice in Putrajaya.
Najib claimed that Nazlan, the judge who convicted him, was aware of the 1MDB and SRC transactions and therefore deemed to have personal knowledge of these two entities.
“I believe the MACC investigators were also aware of this fact, but we were unable to adduce (the evidence).
“I hoped that in the final appeal, we could show the truth of the matter,” he added.
The five-person bench chaired by Chief Justice Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat also unanimously rejected Najib’s bid to seek an adjournment of the main SRC appeal hearing for several months.
The chief justice ruled that the parties were aware of the hearing dates set from Aug 15 to 26 and should have taken all efforts to be prepared.
She, however, allowed the hearing to be postponed to Thursday.
Earlier today, the apex court dismissed former finance minister Najib’s application to adduce fresh SRC evidence to nullify his conviction and sentencing in the SRC case.
Conflict of interest claim
The basis of Najib’s fresh evidence bid was that Nazlan was alleged to have a conflict of interest due to his previous tenure as general counsel at Maybank.
The allegation of conflict of interest centred on the commercial bank’s purported role in the formation of SRC as well as a loan to sovereign wealth fund 1MDB.
Initially a subsidiary of 1MDB, SRC was later fully acquired by the Minister of Finance Incorporated (MOF Inc). 1MDB is also fully owned by MOF Inc.
The Federal Court had set nine days beginning yesterday (Aug 15) to hear the former premier’s appeal.
However, with tomorrow’s hearing adjourned, the hearing days have been shortened to eight days. Previously, the apex court had also taken off Monday next week from the hearing dates.
This is Najib’s final avenue to avoid landing in prison.
On July 28, 2020, Nazlan, the then High Court judge, sentenced Najib to 12 years in prison and slapped him with a RM210 million fine after he was found guilty of all seven charges related to the misappropriation of SRC funds.
Following this, the Court of Appeal, on Dec 8 last year, upheld the conviction and sentence.
Nazlan has since been elevated to the appellate court.
Meanwhile, Najib’s lawyer Hisyam Teh Poh Teik said the defence team had sought the adjournment as the appeal involved large bundles of documents, thousands of data and grounds of judgment to go through.
“With the court having adjourned to Thursday, as counsel we have to make a decision as to what is the next course of action that we can take, give serious thought and consideration because this is the final lap of the main appeal,” he told reporters.
Also present during the media briefing, Zaid Ibrahim joined the former prime minister in expressing disappointment with the apex court’s verdict.
“(Our) full sympathy to Najib and (his) family. But justice is a long road. Sometimes you can get it here, (or) you can get it elsewhere,” the former law minister said. - Mkini
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