All eyes on Court of Appeal as nation awaits decision on Najib’s SRC case

 

The three-member Court of Appeal bench had reserved its judgment after hearing submissions from both sides during the past six months. (Bernama pic)

PUTRAJAYA: All attention will be on the Court of Appeal this morning as it is set to deliver the much-awaited judgment of the appeal by former prime mminister Najib Razak against his conviction and sentence in the RM42 million SRC International case.

Najib will know in a few hours whether the appellate court will allow his appeal on seven charges or affirm the High Court decision to convict him.

A three-member bench, chaired by judge Abdul Karim Abdul Jalil, had reserved its decision after hearing submissions from lawyers during the past six months.

The other judges are Has Zanah Mehat and Vazeer Alam Mydin Meera.

It will be a hybrid proceeding, with the prosecution team, led by ad hoc prosecutor V Sithambaram, appearing before the bench to hear the verdict.

However, Najib and his legal team, led by Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, will not be in the courtroom. They will be in their respective homes or offices.

A barricade on the road leading to the Palace of Justice, which houses the Court of Appeal.

This is because one of the lawyers in Najib’s legal team from Shafee & Co had tested positive for Covid-19 on Monday.

As a result, the status of all the lawyers in their MySejahtera app is that they were in close contact with an infected person.

Najib, who is also the Pekan MP, is under self quarantine because he was with his lawyers at the legal firm on Monday.

Former Bar Council president Salim Bashir said a recent amendment to the Courts of Judicature Act allowed for virtual proceedings to be held for criminal and civil appeals.

He said the norm is that an appellant will follow the proceedings from the prison while his counsel and the deputy prosecutor will either make submissions before a judge in court or from their offices.

“Due to an unexpected turn of events, Najib will know the outcome of his appeal from his home,” he added.

Meanwhile, barricades have been erected around the Palace of Justice which houses the Court of Appeal and Federal Court to prevent any untoward incident.

However, there is unlikely to be any gathering since the decision of the appeal will go online.

The court had heard Najib’s appeal to quash his conviction on seven charges of abuse of power, money laundering and criminal breach of trust (CBT) over SRC International funds from April 5.

Najib was accused of abusing his power as the prime minister by giving government guarantees on SRC International’s RM4 billion loan from Retirement Fund Inc.

He was also charged with three counts of CBT and three money laundering charges in relation to RM42 million belonging to SRC International, a former unit of 1MDB.

High Court judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali sentenced him to 12 years’ jail and fined him RM210 million after finding him guilty of the seven charges in July last year. - FMT