Apex court to hear Najib’s bid to quash guilty verdict in SRC case in January

Najib Abdul Razak’s legal team will get an opportunity on Jan 19 hearing to argue for the overturning of the former prime minister’s conviction and 12-year jail sentence in the RM42 million SRC International corruption case.

The apex court this afternoon fixed three days from that date to hear the former finance minister’s review application against its previous decision to uphold the guilty verdict as well as the custodial sentence and RM210 million fine in lieu of an additional five years in jail.

When contacted by the media, the incumbent Pekan MP’s counsel Muhammad Farhan Muhammad Shafee confirmed the hearing date set during case management before the Federal Court Registry today.

“The (apex) court has fixed Jan 19, 20, and 26 in 2023 for the hearing of the review,” the lawyer said, adding that the matter is fixed for further case management on Dec 2 this year.

Besides Farhan, others that took part in today’s case management were Najib’s lead defence counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah as well as other members of the defence team, namely Syafiqah Sofian and Wan Arfan Wan Othman.

The prosecution was represented by deputy public prosecutors V Sithambaram and Mohd Ashrof Adrin Kamarul. Ashrof also confirmed the hearing dates for the SRC review.

Today was fixed for case management of the review bid filed on Sept 6.

Najib is seeking to review a decision by the apex court on Aug 23 which dismissed his appeal to overturn the guilty verdict as well as jail sentence and fine over one charge of abuse of power, three counts of criminal breach of trust (CBT), and three counts of money laundering involving RM42 million of funds from SRC.

Currently incarcerated at Kajang Prison, the applicant’s review seeks a different apex bench from the one headed by Chief Justice Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat that denied his appeal.

The other four bench members that sat on Aug 23 were Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Abang Iskandar Abang Hashim and senior judges P Nallini, Mary Lim Thiam Suan, and Mohamad Zabidin Mohd Diah.

Bids to nullify trial, recuse judges

According to a copy of the notice of motion, the Pekan MP is also seeking a review against the apex court’s decision to dismiss his three interlocutory applications.

One is Najib’s application to recuse trial judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali from the SRC International case and nullify the whole trial.

Second is his bid to adjourn the apex court hearing of his appeal to allow his legal team to prepare for the case, and thirdly is his application to recuse Tengku Maimun from the appeal.

Besides an acquittal, Najib may also get a rehearing of his SRC appeal before a different apex panel if his review is allowed.

At the same time, he also filed a separate bid before the Pardons Board for a royal pardon in the graft case.

The BN advisory chairperson still has four other pending criminal court cases, namely the RM2.28 billion 1MDB corruption case, the RM6.6 billion International Petroleum Investment Company criminal breach of trust case, the 1MDB audit amendment case, and a money laundering case involving RM27 million from SRC.

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