SRC verdict tomorrow, court dismisses Najib's bid to adduce new evidence

 

The Court of Appeal is set to deliver its verdict tomorrow on Najib Abdul Razak’s appeal to quash his conviction and sentencing in the RM42 million SRC International case.

In a unanimous decision today, the three-person bench chaired by judge Abdul Karim Abdul Jalil dismissed the former prime minister’s application to adduce fresh evidence in the appeal.

The other members of the bench were Has Zanah Mehat and Vazeer Alam Mydin Meera.

Karim said Najib’s application failed to fulfil the requirement under Section 61 of the Courts of Judicature Act that any such additional evidence is not only relevant to the case but that it was not available during the criminal trial and was capable of creating reasonable doubt in the prosecution’s case.

He said the power granted by the provision to the Court of Appeal to allow additional evidence in a criminal appeal is an exception to be exercised rarely rather than a general rule.

“Under the circumstances, we find the additional evidence not necessary for the appeal.

“There were no exceptional circumstances or exceptional condition shown for the court to take additional evidence in the appeal.

“The application is dismissed. The delivery of decision (Najib’s SRC appeal decision) tomorrow will proceed as fixed," Karim said during the proceedings conducted online. 

Najib was seen present during the Zoom hearing. Earlier today, the panel issued a warning for the former premier to attend the Zoom proceedings, following his non-attendance in person in court this morning.

At the end of proceedings, Karim also directed that Najib's SRC appeal verdict tomorrow be conducted online, due to several members of his legal team's close contact with an alleged Covid-19 positive person.

The online proceedings today were for Najib’s application to adduce fresh evidence that could strengthen his case in his appeal against his conviction and sentencing in the SRC case.

The application came within days of tomorrow's (Dec 8) scheduled verdict in Najib’s appeal to quash his guilty verdict as well as a 12-year jail term and RM210 million fine in the SRC case.

On July 28 last year, the Kuala Lumpur High Court delivered the guilty verdict and sentencing, following a full trial for seven charges of abuse of power, criminal breach of trust and money laundering involving RM42 million of funds from SRC.

However, trial judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali allowed the defence’s application to stay the execution of the sentences, pending disposal of Najib’s appeal to the Court of Appeal.

DPP: Additional evidence bid a 'disguise' for retrial

Deputy public prosecutor V Sithambaram had earlier argued during the Zoom hearing that the additional evidence application was actually an attempt to send the case back to the High Court for retrial.

DPP V Sithambaram

The DPP said this was despite the application being “disguised” as an additional evidence application.

“Their application is not for further fresh evidence but retrial of the substantive (SRC) case.

“We do not know how many witnesses are going to come (based on the various affidavits in Najib’s application).

“It is a fishing expedition for additional evidence,” Sithambaram contended, submitting that the evidence sought has no relevance to Najib’s RM42 million SRC case.

The DPP cited among others that the monetary flows contained in the affidavits took place between 2008 and 2009, while the seven SRC charges on which Najib had been convicted of posited incidents that allegedly took place between 2011 and 2015.

Shafee contends evidence shows Zeti's family involvement  

However, Najib’s lead defence counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah contended that the additional evidence is relevant because it purportedly shows that it affected Bank Negara’s ability at the time to alert the then prime minister regarding any wrongdoing linked to the RM42 million.

The lawyer contended that the new evidence sought to show that former Bank Negara governor Zeti Akhtar Aziz’s family allegedly received monies from 1MDB-linked fugitive Low Taek Jho, thus purportedly compromising her ability to alert Najib of any wrongdoing.

“Zeti was in a position to suppress evidence on 1MDB. Why would she expose Jho Low? She would suppress evidence of activity involving Jho Low.

“Zeti and her family knew Jho Low and were bribed by him since 2008. She and Bank Negara were compromised,” Shafee claimed during the online hearing. - Mkini