Court rejects Najib’s bid for stay of SRC suit hearing

The Kuala Lumpur High Court today dismissed former prime minister Najib Razak’s application for a stay of hearing of SRC International’s US$1.18 billion civil suit against him.

Judge Ahmad Fairuz Zainol Abidin said Najib would not be prejudiced if the SRC suit continues while his appeal in the case involving RM42 million in SRC funds is pending before the Federal Court.

“It is the view of this court that the outcome of the Federal Court appeal and applications are purely speculative at this juncture. Nevertheless, whatever the outcome of the Federal Court (appeal), it does not bar the defendant (Najib) from making amendments to pleadings, subject to necessary applications being made.

“It is also the view of the court that the management of this suit must continue and that the filing of the defendant’s defence is critical to ensuring that the suit progresses efficiently,” he said during a virtual proceeding today.

The court then fixed Feb 24 for further case management. Najib was also ordered to file his statement of defence to the civil action by March 31.

Counsel Harvinderjit Singh appeared for Najib while DP Naban acted for SRC, a subsidiary of 1MDB.

During previous proceedings, Harvinderjit submitted that his client wanted a stay of the suit until the full disposal of the criminal case involving RM42 million in SRC funds, which is in the final stage at the Federal Court, as well as three money laundering charges involving RM27 million of the company’s funds at the Kuala Lumpur High Court.

On May 7 last year, SRC under its new management filed legal action against Najib and its former directors – Suboh Md Yassin, Mohammed Azhar Osman Khairuddin, Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil, Che Abdullah @ Rashidi Che Omar, Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi and Ismee Ismail – but later removed the six names from the suit and retained Najib as the sole defendant.

SRC as the plaintiff, in the writ of summons, alleged that Najib had abused his power and obtained personal benefits from SRC funds in addition to misappropriating the funds. Najib was SRC’s emeritus adviser from May 1, 2012 until March 4, 2019.

SRC, which is now wholly owned by the Ministry of Finance Incorporated (MoF Inc), is seeking general damages, exemplary, additional and interest, costs and other appropriate relief provided by the court.

On Dec 7 last year, the Court of Appeal upheld the conviction, 12-year jail term and RM210 million fine on Najib for the misappropriation of RM42 million in SRC funds after dismissing his appeal against the Kuala Lumpur High Court’s decision on July 28, 2020.

Najib filed a notice of appeal to the Federal Court that same day.