PUTRAJAYA: A lawyer has cautioned that applications for a review of convictions and sentences were rarely successful.
This comes after former prime minister Najib Razak’s defence team in his SRC International case said it might consider filing a review application on his conviction.
Earlier today, the Federal Court affirmed former prime minister Najib’s conviction and sentence in the case.
Lawyer Guok Ngek Seong, who had filed several of such applications, said it was extremely rare for such applications to be successful.
“In my experience, a successful review only happens in the rarest of rare cases,” he said.
He added that while review applications had been allowed in civil and criminal cases, the threshold to convince the judges was extremely high.
“The court is careful when it comes to allowing a review or else there will not be finality in litigation.”
Guok said Rule 137 of the Federal Court Rules 1995 allows for such reviews on grounds that there had been a breach of natural justice or an abuse of process.
He said there is no deadline to file an application to review the judgment of the apex court.
“His lawyers could file it as soon as the Federal Court releases the full grounds of judgment,” he told FMT when asked about Najib’s immediate options.
The lawyer said the first step for Najib was to show that he suffered injustice or any abuse of process.
“A freshly constituted panel will set aside the conviction and sentence and there will be a fresh hearing,” he said, adding that in such a case, the new panel could uphold the previous finding or allow his appeal to set aside the Court of Appeal and High Court rulings.
A five-member bench chaired by Chief Justice Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat today upheld the former Pekan MP’s conviction and sentence by the Court of Appeal on Dec 8 last year.
On July 28, 2020, trial judge Nazlan Ghazali sentenced Najib to 12 years’ jail and a fine of RM210 million on seven counts of corruption. - FMT
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