Chief Justice Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat will be presiding over the five-person apex court panel hearing of former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak’s application to adduce fresh evidence in the RM42 million SRC International Sdn Bhd corruption case.
The other bench members are Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Abang Iskandar Abang Hashim, Federal Court judges P Nallini, Mary Lim Thiam Suan and Mohamad Zabidin Mohd Diah.
The Federal Court will first hear the former prime minister’s application to adduce fresh evidence to nullify his conviction over one count of abuse of power, three counts of criminal breach of trust (CBT), and three money laundering charges involving RM42 million of funds from SRC.
In the event the bench dismisses the new evidence bid, they will proceed to hear Najib’s main SRC appeal that also seeks to quash his 12-year jail sentence and RM210 million fine.
As of now, it is unclear whether the same panel is set to hear the main SRC appeal.
Formerly a subsidiary of 1MDB, SRC is now fully owned by the Minister of Finance Incorporated (MOF Inc). MOF Inc also fully owns 1MDB.
The Federal Court has set nine days from today to hear Najib’s appeal of his conviction.
Initially set for 10 days, the apex court later reduced it, leaving nine days for the hearing from Aug 15 to 19 and Aug 23 to 26.
On July 28, 2020, the Kuala Lumpur High Court found Najib guilty of the seven criminal charges involving RM42 million of funds from SRC.
It is to note that Najib also used to be SRC’s adviser emeritus and chairperson of 1MDB’s board of advisers.
Having meted out the sentence, judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali however allowed the defence’s bid for a stay of execution pending disposal of the appeal process.
On Dec 8 last year, the Court of Appeal upheld the lower court’s guilty verdict.
The basis of Najib’s fresh evidence bid was that High Court judge Nazlan was alleged to have a conflict of interest due to his previous tenure as general counsel at Maybank.
The allegation of conflict of interest centred on the commercial bank’s purported role in the formation of SRC as well as a loan to Malaysian sovereign wealth fund 1MDB.
Despite having officially withdrawn his bribery claims against Nazlan, the former premier stuck to his guns over the purported conflict of interest against Nazlan. - Mkini
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