Wednesday, September 28, 2022

Najib’s RM42m SRC review for case management on Oct 21

 


Najib Abdul Razak’s review application to overturn his conviction and jail sentence in the RM42 million SRC International corruption case has been set for case management before the apex court on Oct 21.

This was informed by the former prime minister’s lead defence counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah to the Kuala Lumpur High Court this morning.

The High Court proceedings were in relation to the former finance minister’s money laundering case involving RM27 million of funds from SRC, which is fully owned by the Minister of Finance Incorporated (MOF Inc).

The RM27 million SRC money laundering case was previously on hold pending the disposal of former finance minister Najib’s corruption case involving RM42 million of funds from SRC.

The accused is serving a 12-year jail term following the apex court on Aug 23 dismissing his appeal against his conviction in the RM42 million SRC case.

However, Najib’s legal team had then filed an application for a different Federal Court panel to review the apex court’s decision to uphold his guilty verdict as well as the 12-year jail term and RM210 million fine.

The Pekan MP has also at the same time filed a separate bid before the Pardons Board for a royal pardon in the RM42 million SRC case.

Besides the RM27 million SRC money laundering case, Najib still has three other pending criminal court cases, namely the RM2.28 billion 1MDB corruption case, the RM6.6 billion International Petroleum Investment Company criminal breach of trust case, and the 1MDB audit amendment case.

Lead defence counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah

Nov 29 for further mention

Meanwhile, during open-court proceedings before the High Court today, judge Mohamed Zaini Mazlan allowed the prosecution’s application to postpone the trial of Najib’s RM27 million SRC money laundering case.

Deputy public prosecutor Mohd Ashrof Adrin Kamarul said this is because the accused still has the pending review application before the apex court regarding the RM42 million SRC graft case.

Shafee then explained to Zaini that the review had indeed been fixed for case management on Oct 21.

The lawyer, however, said that they have sent a letter to the apex court to request an earlier case management date for the review because of urgency linked to fundamental issues in the case.

Shafee said the defence team is trying to apply for the apex court to fix the hearing of the review application as soon as possible, perhaps by November this year.

The lawyer added that his client also has a pending pardon application before the Pardons Board.

Zaini then set Nov 29 for further mention of the RM27 million SRC money laundering case.

On Feb 3, 2019, Najib pleaded not guilty to the three charges of money laundering for allegedly receiving a total of RM27 million of SRC’s funds via his three AmPrivate Banking accounts.

The Pekan MP is accused of committing the offences at AmIslamic Bank Berhad, Bangunan Ambank Group, No. 55, Jalan Raja Chulan, on July 8, 2014.

The charges are framed under Section 4(1)(a) of the Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorism Financing Act 2001, which specifies a fine of up to RM5 million, imprisonment not more than five years, or both on conviction. - Mkini

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