Najib to engage Queen’s Counsel for SRC appeal

 

Najib Razak’s lawyers will write to the Federal Court on their intention to bring in a Queen’s Counsel from the UK to appear in his final appeal. (Bernama pic)

PUTRAJAYA: Najib Razak intends to engage a Queen’s Counsel (QC) from the UK to appear in his final appeal against his conviction in the RM42 million SRC International Sdn Bhd case in the Federal Court.

Deputy public prosecutor Mohd Ashrof Adrin Kamarul said the former prime minister’s lawyer, Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, indicated this during case management today.

“He (Shafee) will write to the Federal Court by tomorrow on the intention to apply for a QC to attend and argue the appeal,” Ashrof said after the case management before Federal Court deputy registrar Siti Hajar Mustaffa.

A QC, said to be specialist in a specific area of law, can only appear in a Malaysian court on an ad hoc basis after getting admission.

The Malaysian Bar and the Attorney-General’s Chambers could support or oppose should Najib make such an application.

Najib, 68, is the first former prime minister in the country who was charged in court and found guilty.

Ashrof, who appeared with ad hoc prosecutor V Sithambaram in the case management, said no dates have been fixed to hear the appeal due to the proposal to bring the foreign counsel.

“Another case management will be held on Friday to determine the next step for the main appeal,” he said.

However, he said Siti Hajar fixed March 15 and 16 to hear Najib’s appeal to adduce additional evidence in the SRC appeal.

On Dec 7 last year, the Court of Appeal dismissed Najib’s application to adduce fresh evidence in his appeal, saying that he did not meet the four strict elements required under the law.

They are that the evidence was not made available at the trial, the issue of relevance and credibility.

The fourth was that the evidence would have created a reasonable doubt in the mind of the trial judge, if it had been submitted together with other evidence during the trial.

The next day, the same court upheld the conviction and 12 years’ jail term and RM210 million fine on Najib for misappropriating RM42 million in SRC funds.

Judge Abdul Karim Abdul Jalil, who led a three-member bench comprising Has Zanah Mehat and Vazeer Alam Mydin Meera, dismissed Najib’s appeal against the High Court decision on July 28, 2020.

Karim said trial judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali did not misdirect himself for an appellate intervention. - FMT