The apex court will proceed to hear Najib Abdul Razak’s main appeal to quash his conviction and sentencing in the RM42 million SRC International corruption case.
A five-person Federal Court bench chaired by Chief Justice Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat unanimously dismissed the former prime minister’s application to adduce fresh evidence for the case today.
The former finance minister has sought additional evidence to nullify his SRC conviction and sentencing.
With the dismissal of the bid, the apex court is set to proceed with a hearing of Najib’s main appeal to set aside his conviction over one count of abuse of power, three counts of money laundering, and three money laundering charges.
The other bench members are Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Abang Iskandar Abang Hashim, and Federal Court judges P Nallini, Mary Lim Thiam Suan, and Mohamad Zabidin Mohd Diah.
The basis of Najib’s fresh evidence bid was that SRC trial judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali had a conflict of interest due to his previous tenure as general counsel at Maybank.
It also centred on the commercial bank’s purported role in the formation of SRC as well as a loan to the sovereign wealth fund 1MDB.
Formerly a subsidiary of 1MDB, SRC is now fully owned by the Minister of Finance Incorporated.
No relevance
In reading out the ruling, Tengku Maimun said the bench failed to see the relevance of the additional evidence with the seven charges that Najib was convicted for, namely one count of abuse of power, three counts of criminal breach of trust, and three money laundering charges linked to RM42 million of funds from SRC.
“We are not in any way convinced that the proposed evidence establishes anything to the effect that Nazlan’s findings were in any way mired by any discreet or undisclosed personal interest on his part on the establishment of SRC International Sdn Bhd and its subsequent operation such as to render him a conflicted or biased judge.
“Nor do we find anything in the motion that Nazlan had any particular knowledge or was inspired by any extraneous considerations gained from his previous employment with Maybank to sustain any of his factual or legal findings in respect of the seven charges against the applicant,” she said.
She observed that the bench is not convinced that the trial judge made his findings based on anything other than the evidence on record.
“We further find that there is no nexus between Nazlan’s previous employment with Maybank and the charges against the applicant so as to suggest a conflict of interest, giving rise to bias.
“Whether or not Nazlan’s findings are correct, on the evidence on record, is the subject for consideration in the main appeal,” she ruled.
On July 28, 2020, the Kuala Lumpur High Court found Najib guilty of the seven criminal charges involving RM42 million of funds from SRC.
Having meted out the sentence, Nazlan, however, allowed the defence’s bid to stay the execution of the sentence pending disposal of the appeal.
On Dec 8 last year, the Court of Appeal upheld the lower court’s ruling and dismissed Najib’s appeal.
Najib also used to be SRC’s adviser emeritus and chairperson of 1MDB’s board of advisers. - Mkini
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