YOURSAY | ‘I hope Zaid is being sufficiently ‘reimbursed’ for his effort.’

Federal Court rejects bid to postpone Najib's SRC appeal

Vijay47: This decision by the Federal Court not to postpone the hearing of former premier Najib Abdul Razak's final appeal against his conviction in the SRC International corruption case was a foregone conclusion.

For sure, lawyer Zaid Ibrahim, you can try but can’t win. Or as they may say of your client, you can run but you can’t hide.

Whatever made you adopt this bird-brained gambit of seeking postponement on the grounds you were just appointed as counsel?

Alright, maybe you are not as brainy as Najib’s earlier counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, nobody is, but surely even you with your long years as a lawyer would have known ab initio, as you lawyers love to say, that the application was doomed to fail.

And in the process, what did you gain? Zilch. But you did suffer great damage to what remained of your image, earned the contempt of almost every person in town, and possibly invited the wrath of the court.

I hope you are being sufficiently “reimbursed” for your efforts.

Cogito Ergo Sum: @Vijay 47, you have articulated what was on all our minds, minus the cuss words!

This move by the apex court will go down as the most expected unexpected decision. It will be the case that defines the phrase “Justice delayed is justice denied”.

Dr Raman Letchumanan: Just as I predicted, the Federal Court has dismissed the request for postponement.

Najib, your best course of action is to bring in the hotshot lawyer team into this team or vice-versa.

You then have the best team in the world to bring in a new perspective and the momentum as well as the gallantry exhibited by the hotshot lawyer. The Federal Court cannot deny you this right to have any number of counsels.

But, if I may advise you, please don't make a pretence that everybody fooled you, and whack the High Court and Court of Appeal lawyers again. All this advice is pro-bono, out of goodwill.

Frankly, I would have given you better advice, but you are busy advising everybody else.

I understand the notice of appeal filed had 94 grounds, so you have a very good chance that at least one will stick.

I wonder who made that illuminating suggestion to change lawyers, Zaid or Shafee?

LionKing: It is the right decision by the Federal Court as it surely indicates that the judiciary has acted in the best interest of justice.

The change of lawyer could have been done at the time when the Court of Appeal rejected the appeal. Why wait for the last moment? It is nothing but a delay tactic.

Moreover, the new lawyers should have known that it is a last-minute thing and are just trying their luck.

Shame on this new law firm as they presumably would have known that time is too short. In addition, they should be prepared for an adverse decision.

Please get 20 of your best lawyers to work this out before the trial date.

Anonymous_47029368: Indeed, the new lawyers should not have applied for postponement way before this.

They cannot 'force' the Federal Court to postpone the case as they aforehand already knew the scheduled hearing dates and should not have accepted the case if they are not ready to adhere to those scheduled dates.

The Federal Court is thus right to reject the postponement request.

Bravemalaysian: I am extremely grateful and happy with the court decision.

The court shall not be a play tool of those with power and money. Justice shall prevail.

Specialist Opening Batsman: Zaid, what's the plan now?

Perhaps you may want to mull over getting your client admitted into the heart specialist hospital, IJN, for diarrhoea and knee injury for a few weeks.

WhitePony9855: Will there be further attempts to procrastinate the proceedings further?

It is another 16 days to Aug 15 plus another 10 days of hearing, followed by god knows how many days before the Federal Court decision.

Will it be end of September, October or November? By then, the government would probably be dissolved.

Then, there is Umno's matter with Registrar of Societies (ROS) regarding the party's elections (ROS yesterday approved Umno’s constitutional amendment to allow party elections to be held after GE15).

Will the party’s kleptocrats and court cluster overcome the party's cabinet group?

Let's see how this plays out over the next three months.

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