Najib’s appeal against SRC conviction to be heard next year

Former prime minister Najib Razak’s appeal against his conviction and sentence over the misappropriation of RM42 million from SRC International Sdn Bhd will be heard from Feb 15 next year.

Court of Appeal deputy registrar Darmafikri Abu Adam fixed 12 days for hearing the appeal during case management today, from Feb 15 until 18, Feb 22 until 25 and March 1 to 4, 2021.

Deputy public prosecutor Mohd Ashraf Adrin Kamaril and lawyers Harvinderjit Singh and Nur Syahirah Hanapiah, representing Najib, were present.

Najib had, on July 30, filed a notice of appeal against the conviction and sentence meted out by High Court judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali, who found him guilty of seven charges of criminal breach of trust (CBT), money laundering and abuse of power.

Najib was sentenced to 10 years’ jail for each of the three cases of CBT and each of the three cases of money laundering. He was also sentenced to 12 years in jail and fined RM210 million, in default of five years’ jail, for abuse of power.

However, he will only serve 12 years in jail as the judge ordered for the jail sentences to run concurrently. He is currently out on RM2 million bail with two sureties pending his appeal.

On Aug 7, the prosecution filed a cross-appeal to increase the sentence.

On Sept 25, Najib obtained a 30-day extension to file his petition of appeal after the Court of Appeal allowed his application for an extension of time.

For the prosecution’s cross-appeal, it is understood that because the prosecution did not file a petition of appeal within the time period or apply for an extension of time, the appeal therefore lapsed.