A Queen’s Counsel from the United Kingdom has the experience and expertise to assist Najib Abdul Razak in complex issues and legal questions in his appeal linked to the RM42 million SRC International graft case.
This was revealed in a letter from the former prime minister’s lawyers from Shafee & Co to the secretariat of Chief Justice Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat today.
Najib (above) is seeking to appoint a QC to handle his appeal to quash his conviction as well as 12-year jail term and RM210 million fine over one count of abuse of power, three counts of criminal breach of trust (CBT), and three counts of money laundering involving RM42 million from SRC.
The title of QC is awarded by the Queen of the UK to those who have demonstrated particular skill and expertise in conducting advocacy in court.
In the copy of the letter made available to the media today, lead defence counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah said that they also seek for the Federal Court not to set an early hearing date of Najib’s appeal.
The lawyer said this is because they need time to translate the voluminous amount of notes and court documents linked to the case from Bahasa Malaysia to English, in order to enable him and other senior counsel to effectively brief the QC about the appeal.
“Since the appeals involve complex issues and questions of law which are considered novel in Malaysia and in the Commonwealth, the appellant (Najib) requires advice and expertise from an experienced QC who has dealt with these complex issues.
“Hence, the appellant requires time, after receiving the records of appeal, to supply the same to the QC in London,” Shafee said in the letter bearing his signature.
When contacted, deputy public prosecutor Mohd Ashrof Adrin Kamarul confirmed the letter from Najib’s lawyers.
Case management
The former premier’s appeal is fixed for case management before the Federal Court this Friday.
At present, he has two appeals before the Federal Court, one is to quash his conviction as well as the 12-year jail sentence and RM210 million fine in the main SRC corruption case, and the other is over his bid to adduce fresh evidence in the main appeal.
On Dec 7 last year, the Court of Appeal dismissed his application to adduce fresh evidence in his appeal against the RM42 million SRC graft case.
The next day (Dec 8), the Court of Appeal dismissed his appeal to overturn the guilty verdict and sentencing in the SRC case.
Previously a subsidiary of 1MDB, SRC later became fully owned by the Minister of Finance Incorporated.
Besides being former prime minister, Najib also used to be finance minister, SRC’s adviser emeritus, and chairperson of 1MDB’s board of advisers. - Mkini
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