It’s going to be a very long case, says Shafee

Addressing the media: Shafee giving a press conference at the Kuala Lumpur Courts Complex.

KUALA LUMPUR: The SRC International case will be a lengthy battle that will go way beyond the 15th General Election in Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s attempt to prove his innocence.

The former premier’s lead counsel Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah said the case would “almost definitely” end up in the Federal Court, which was something the defence had planned from the very start.

All of Najib’s seven charges, involving the misappropriation of RM42mil from SRC International, were initially brought before the Sessions Court before a request was made to transfer the case to the High Court.

“In many ways, I’m happy this case started in the High Court and that is why we wanted it to be in the High Court because we don’t need to go through an appellate to go to the Federal Court.

“If it remains in the Sessions Court, the highest court we can go to is the Court of Appeal.

“We would like to hear from a seven-member quorum of the Federal Court, ” he told reporters outside the High Court here yesterday.

Both Shafee and Najib were very confident that the former prime minister would be acquitted of all seven charges.

Dressed in a black striped suit and an orange tie, Najib was all smiles as he walked into the High Court, accompanied by his friends and supporters.

A group of them gathered outside the courtroom also cheered when Shafee arrived.

While Najib remained calm in the dock as Justice Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali ordered Najib to enter his defence for all seven charges, Shafee revealed that his client was shocked.

“Frankly we were expecting acquittal because in our submission that we have produced, we thought it was overwhelming, both factually and legally.

“It’s not just good.

“Although I’m sad that defence was called, in many ways I’m happy. “One is you will hear the real story from Najib because he has to tell his version of the story.

“With the reasoning that the judge has provided, maybe he has taken a purposeful choice. Our defence becomes easier as things that were obviously unprovable, were taken into consideration, ” Shafee said.

After Justice Nazlan read his judgment, Najib told the court interpreter that he would be giving a sworn statement during his defence trial.

This would mean that Najib is subjected to cross-examination by the prosecution.

The prosecution trial lasted 58 days with 57 witnesses called to the stand.

During the trial, the prosecution tendered more than 750 exhibits, including bank documents relating to Najib’s bank accounts, cash transactions, minutes of meetings and Blackberry Messenger chats over Najib’s transactions.- Star