Lead defence counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah denied there was a conspiracy between him and lawyers from law firm Zaid Ibrahim Sufian TH Liew & Partners to delay the hearing of Najib Abdul Razak’s SRC appeal hearing last year.
During today’s apex court hearing of the former prime minister’s review application to quash his guilty verdict as well as a 12-year jail term and RM210 million fine, Shafee (above) orally submitted that it was because there was an acrimonious relationship between him and the other law firm.
The other law firm acted for the former finance minister in last year’s failed SRC appeal before the apex court bench, which was chaired by Chief Justice Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat.
Among the grounds cited for the review is that the Tengku Maimun-chaired apex court then had erred in denying an application by the other law firm as well as Najib’s other lawyer Hisyam Teh Poh Teik to adjourn last year’s hearing for three to four months to help them prepare for the appeal.
The Federal Court bench today is chaired by Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Abdul Rahman Sebli.
“There was never a ploy to delay or request for postponement,” Shafee said.
“There was a very acrimonious exchange of letters (between Shafee and the other law firm) on the manner in which my client (Najib) was not told the truth.
“Zaid & Co (the other law firm) never did criminal law (proceedings) in their entire life, a very complicated case like this,” Shafee orally submitted as Najib looked on from the dock this afternoon.
‘Najib was hoodwinked’
Shafee further claimed that Najib was also hoodwinked by two lawyers from India in relation to legal advice over the SRC matter.
“My client was led to believe he has a fresh view of the case, and he was guaranteed by the counsel that an adjournment would be granted to enable them to submit (with sufficient preparedness),” Shafee said.
The lawyer added that while judges may get irritated by adjournment applications, a reasonable court would still allow it if the situation requires it so justice is done and to prevent compromise on fair trial proceedings.
Hearing of the SRC review would continue on Feb 20.
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.
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, on grounds of an alleged conflict of interest.
Besides an acquittal, Najib may also get a rehearing of his SRC appeal before a different apex panel or a retrial of the entire case before a new High Court judge 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. - Mkini
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