Apex court to deliver verdict on Najib's SRC review bid

The Federal Court is scheduled to deliver its verdict tomorrow on the review application by Najib Razak over its decision to uphold his conviction, 12-year jail sentence and fine for the misappropriation of RM42 million in SRC International funds.

A five-member bench of the Federal Court, comprising Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Abdul Rahman Sebli, Federal Court judges Vernon Ong Lam Kiat, Rhodzariah Bujang and Nordin Hassan, and Court of Appeal judge Abu Bakar Jais, will deliver its judgment at 9am.

Najib, who is currently serving a 12-year jail term at Kajang Prison, is seeking to overturn the decision by a five-member bench of the Federal Court led by Chief Justice Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat on Aug 23 last year.

Criminal lawyer N Sivananthan, when asked what would happen if the decision favoured Najib, said the decision of the previous panel would be set aside and the matter would be fixed for an appeal hearing.

"If the application is allowed, it means that his final appeal has not been disposed of, so he is put in the situation of someone who is still waiting for his final appeal. 

"If the application is dismissed, that will be the end of the matter. The sentence passed by the previous panel will remain, and he will have to serve it," said Sivananthan. 

During the six-day proceeding which started on Jan 19, Najib's lead counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah argued that the earlier bench hearing Najib’s main appeal made a fundamental error in law by not allowing the adjournment of the trial and then not allowing Najib’s ex-counsel Hisyam Teh Poh Teik to discharge himself.

He also said that a Facebook post by Tengku Maimun’s husband on May 11, 2018, before the 14th general election, amounted to a public declaration of hatred against Najib.

He said the top judge should have known about the post and asked the involved parties whether she should recuse herself from the panel.

Ad hoc prosecutor V Sithambaram contended that there was no breach of natural justice, miscarriage of justice or abuse of the court process as the defence was given all opportunity to submit during the final appeal.

He said Hisyam chose not to seize the opportunities given on the pretext that he was not prepared, and that Najib had taken on new lawyers in the hope of postponing the hearing of the appeal.
 
On July 28, 2020, then High Court judge Mohd Nazlan Ghazali, who is now a Court of Appeal judge, sentenced Najib to 10 years' jail for each of the three counts of criminal breach of trust and each of the three counts of money laundering, and 12 years' jail and an RM210 million fine in default of five years' jail, in the case of abuse of power.

On Dec 8, 2021, the Court of Appeal upheld the High Court's decision and dismissed Najib’s appeal to set aside his conviction and jail sentence as well as the fine.