Prosecution tells Federal Court Najib's fresh evidence is hearsay

 

Former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak's bid to introduce fresh evidence in the RM42 million SRC International is based on what certain individuals allegedly told MACC, the apex court was told.

Deputy public prosecutor V Sithambaram submitted that the Federal Court should reject the bid as Najib's supporting affidavits are all based on hearsay evidence.

Under the law, hearsay is the report of another person's words by a witness, which a court would usually disallow as evidence during a trial.

Najib's additional evidence bid is backed by his affidavits over what three MACC officers and two bankers purportedly told the antigraft watchdog during the SRC investigation.

Sithambaram told the five-person bench chaired by Chief Justice Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat that Najib's affidavits showed that these alleged witnesses did not personally tell the former prime minister what they supposedly told MACC.

"Those witnesses' statements are hearsay upon hearsay. They did not tell the appellant," the prosecutor submitted.

"The application is not a fresh evidence bid but camouflaged (as a fishing expedition into) the alleged conflict of interest on the part of Nazlan," Sithambaram contended.

The DPP is countering the submissions from defence counsel Hisyam Teh Poh Teik regarding fresh evidence - which was allegedly delivered anonymously in envelopes to Najib between May 9 and July 7.

Hisyam had submitted earlier today that if not for these anonymous envelopes, Najib and the defence team would not have realised the alleged conflict of interest involving trial judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali.

Proceedings before the apex court will resume tomorrow morning, with Najib's lawyers expected to mount a counter-submission against the prosecution's assertions

The other bench members are Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Abang Iskandar Abang Hashim, Federal Court judges P Nallini, Mary Lim Thiam Suan and Mohamad Zabidin Mohd Diah.

Conflict of interest

Through the fresh evidence bid, which seeks to nullify Najib's conviction and sentencing in the SRC case, the appellant claimed that Nazlan was potentially biased due to a purported conflict of interest as Nazlan had been a general counsel at Maybank.

The appellant claimed that the commercial bank was then involved in the formation of SRC, a then subsidiary of Malaysian sovereign wealth fund 1MDB.

Despite having officially withdrawn his bribery claims against Nazlan, the former premier stuck to his guns over Nazlan's purported conflict of interest.

Nazlan has since been elevated to the Court of Appeal.

Court of Appeal judge

In the event the apex court dismisses the new evidence bid, it will proceed to hear Najib's main appeal seeking to quash his conviction for one count of abuse of power, three counts of criminal breach of trust (CBT), and three money laundering counts involving RM42 million of funds from SRC.

The appellant also seeks to overturn his 12-year jail sentence and RM210 million fine.

The Federal Court has set nine days to hear Najib's appeal, from Aug 15 to 19 and Aug 23 to 26.

On July 28, 2020, the Kuala Lumpur High Court, via trial judge Nazlan, found Najib guilty of the seven criminal charges involving RM42 million of funds from SRC.

Having meted out the sentence, Nazlan allowed the defence a stay of execution pending disposal of the appeal process.

On Dec 8 last year, the Court of Appeal upheld the lower court's guilty verdict.

Previously a subsidiary of 1MDB, SRC later became fully owned by the Minister of Finance Inc in 2012.

Najib also used to be SRC's adviser emeritus and chairperson of 1MDB's board of advisers. - Mkini