Najib to file second bid in apex court to nullify SRC conviction

 

Najib Abdul Razak will have a second attempt before the apex court tomorrow to quash his guilty verdict as well as the 12-year jail sentence and RM210 million fine in the SRC International corruption case.

The Federal Court previously fixed tomorrow and Friday this week, and Jan 26, to hear the review by the former prime minister and finance minister.

However, on Jan 10, it was reported that the apex court has vacated the Jan 20 and 26 dates, as a member of the panel has another case to hear on those dates.

Najib is seeking a different apex court quorum than the one led by Chief Justice Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat who, on Aug 23 last year, dismissed his appeal to overturn the conviction, jail sentence and fine.

The case involved one charge of abuse of power, three counts of criminal breach of trust (CBT) and three counts of money laundering involving RM42 million of funds from SRC.

Chief Justice Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat

Currently incarcerated at Kajang Prison, Najib is also currently pursuing other avenues outside the judiciary, namely a petition for royal pardon as well as a petition before the United Nations over his alleged arbitrary detention.

According to a copy of the notice of motion for the review, the former Pekan MP is also targeting the Federal Court’s decision to dismiss his three interlocutory applications.

One is Najib’s application to recuse trial judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali from the SRC International case and nullify the whole trial.

Second is his bid to adjourn the Federal Court hearing of his appeal to allow his legal team to prepare for the case, and third is his application to recuse Tengku Maimun from the appeal.

Besides an acquittal, Najib may also get a rehearing of his SRC appeal before a different apex panel if his review is allowed.

The BN advisory chairperson still has four other pending criminal court cases, namely the RM2.28 billion 1MDB corruption case, the RM6.6 billion International Petroleum Investment Company CBT case, the 1MDB audit amendment case, and a money laundering case involving RM27 million from SRC.

Conflict of interest claim

Through the present review application, Najib contends that Nazlan - who has since been elevated from the High Court to the Court of Appeal - was in a conflict of interest when he heard the SRC International case.

Because, among others, the judge was allegedly aware that it was Maybank Investment (an entity of Maybank Group) and BinaFikir (another entity of Maybank Group) that provided the advice to Malaysian sovereign wealth fund 1MDB in the matters pertaining to the setting up of SRC International.

Najib alleged that the conflict of interest arose due to Nazlan’s previous role as general counsel with Maybank.

This included allegations that Nazlan had legal control, supervision and knowledge of an RM4.17 billion loan extended from the bank to 1MDB Energy, a subsidiary of 1MDB.

Initially a subsidiary of 1MDB, SRC was later transferred fully to the Minister of Finance Incorporated (MOF Inc). MOF Inc also fully owned 1MDB.

Court of Appeal judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali

Najib also contended that the apex court’s refusal to grant an adjournment to his lawyer Hisyam Teh Poh Teik to prepare for the SRC appeal was unconstitutional, allegedly violating Article 5 of the Federal Constitution.

He contended that the SRC appeal was disposed of in spite of the fact that his legal team did not submit at all due to an alleged state of unpreparedness.

Najib's legal team which involved Hisyam, among others, took over from the previous lawyers headed by Muhammad Shafee Abdullah back in July for the SRC appeal.

Serious animosity

However, for the current review application, Shafee's law firm is the one which filed the bid on behalf of Najib.

Najib also contended that Tengku Maimun was “clearly conflicted” as her husband had purportedly shown serious animosity or acrimony to Najib since May 2018 via Facebook.

However, in a rebuttal filing before the apex court, the prosecution contended that Najib’s legal team was already informed several times earlier last year that the apex court would not grant a three- to four-month adjournment for the SRC appeal hearing.

First charged before the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court in mid-2018, Najib’s SRC case was later transferred to the High Court.

The then-High Court judge Nazlan presided over the trial, which began in 2019, and he convicted and sentenced Najib in July 2020.

The accused then mounted failed appeals before the Court of Appeal and then the Federal Court. - Mkini