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KUALA LUMPUR: Najib Razak’s legal team plans to rope in UK lawyer Jonathan Laidlaw to be part of the team in the event that the former prime minister’s bid to review his SRC International case is allowed.
Lawyer Shafee Abdullah said Laidlaw – a King’s Counsel – was regarded as one of the best lawyers to appear in fraud and corruption cases.
“Although the previous solicitors indicated that they were not interested to pursue (getting Laidlaw), we think it is ridiculous to ignore the appeal (against Laidlaw’s admission),” he told reporters today.
Shafee said Najib was seeking, in the review bid, to get the Federal Court to set aside his Aug 23 conviction or to have another Federal Court rehear his conviction appeal.
Najib had been found guilty of abuse of power, criminal breach of trust and money laundering over RM42 million in SRC International funds in his accounts. He is currently serving a 12-year sentence in Kajang prison.
Prior to the SRC International appeal hearing, Najib discharged Shafee’s firm from representing him before the apex court and employed instead the law firm Suflan TH Liew & Partners.
Lawyer Hisyam Teh Poh Teik was then appointed to lead Najib’s legal team during the Federal Court hearing.
Laidlaw had in July sought to be admitted before the court here on an ad hoc basis so that he could argue Najib’s SRC International appeal.
However the High Court rejected Laidlaw’s admission bid, saying that he did not satisfy the requirements for ad hoc admission under the Legal Profession Act.
Laidlaw has appealed against the High Court’s decision disallowing him from appearing in the case.
Will Najib seek to campaign in polls?
Asked whether the former prime minister could contest in the coming general election, Shafee said he did not want to make public what he would argue in court later.
“There are many interesting arguments I don’t want to make public. When I execute it, you will know,” he said, in reference to Najib’s judicial review bid filed earlier against the prisons department and government.
The High Court will hear on Oct 19 Najib’s bid to ask the court to set aside the prisons department’s decision to not allow his request to attend proceedings in the Dewan Rakyat.
However, no further sittings of the lower house will take place after Parliament was dissolved on Monday.
Meanwhile, asked if the lawyers had sought the prisons department’s permission to allow Najib to campaign for Barisan Nasional, Shafee said he could not divulge anything. - FMT
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