June 27 case management for Najib’s bid for new evidence to nullify SRC trial

The Federal Court has fixed June 27 for case management in Najib Razak’s application to adduce additional evidence in his SRC International case in a bid to nullify the trial in which he was convicted, sentenced to 12 years’ jail and fined RM210 million.

Deputy public prosecutor Mohd Ashrof Adrin Kamarul, when contacted by Bernama, confirmed the case management date.

The additional evidence that the former prime minister is seeking to adduce relates to the recent discovery that the trial judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali was in 2006 the general counsel and company secretary for Maybank Group, which had the ultimate overall responsibility for the management and administration of all legal departments within the entire group.

At a press conference on June 7, Najib’s lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah said Nazlan had failed to disclose that he was the general counsel and company secretary for Maybank Group which was responsible for proposing the establishment of SRC International.

In his supporting affidavit, Najib said the evidence he sought to adduce was not made available to him at the trial. He said the evidence was relevant to the issues before the High Court and Court of Appeal and would also be relevant to his appeal at the Federal Court.

He said the fact that Nazlan knew of his personal involvement in the setting up of SRC International but concealed it from the defence amounted to a conflict of interest which led to a danger of bias.

On July 28, 2020, Nazlan, who was a High Court judge at the time, found Najib guilty of seven charges of misappropriating RM42 million in SRC International funds.

He sentenced Najib to 12 years in jail and fined him RM210 million.

Najib, the Pekan MP, lost his appeal in the Court of Appeal on Dec 8 last year after it was dismissed by a three-member panel led by Abdul Karim Abdul Jalil.

He later filed an appeal at the Federal Court.

The Federal Court has fixed 10 days beginning Aug 15 to hear Najib’s final appeal against his conviction, jail sentence and fine.