'Najib's FB post on SRC trial judge a criminal offence for contempt of court'

Summary

• PKR’s Hassan Abdul Karim calls former premier Najib Abdul Razak’s Facebook post a criminal offence for contempt of court.

• He says the posting was malicious and a deliberate defamation of the court.

• He says it is an offence under the Penal Code to defame the High Court, Court of Appeal and Federal Court which tried Najib in his SRC International case.

Pasir Gudang MP Hassan Abdul Karim today called a Facebook post by former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak a “criminal offence for contempt of court”.

The PKR lawmaker, who is also a lawyer, said the posting was malicious and a deliberate defamation of the court, tarnishing the court’s reputation with a scandal that will create a negative impact on the judicial system.

“From my reading of the above Facebook post, I conclude that the post is an offence under the Penal Code for defaming the High Court, the Court of Appeal of Malaysia and the Federal Court which tried Najib in the SRC International Sdn Bhd case,” he told Malaysiakini in a statement.

Earlier today, a post appeared on Najib’s Facebook account criticising SRC International trial judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali in what appeared to be a move to criticise the former premier’s initial conviction.

This came amid a push by Umno to lobby Yang di-Pertuan Agong Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar to grant Najib a full pardon over his conviction in the SRC corruption case.

‘Conflict of interest’

The Facebook post dredges up the issue of Nazlan’s alleged conflict of interest in the SRC International case due to the judge’s past working with Maybank when SRC International was engaging the bank - and MACC’s probe into the matter.

In his statement, Hassan said that the Court of Appeal judges and then the judges of the Federal Court had all upheld Nazlan’s decision in the High Court.

“Not satisfied with the decision of the Federal Court, Najib filed an application for a review of the Federal Court’s decision before a special panel.

“The result of the review was that Najib was still convicted and sentenced as decided by Nazlan in the High Court,” he added.

Besides that, he said that the matter Najib had raised was meaningless in terms of legal validity.

“Najib was defended by a team of competent and experienced lawyers throughout the SRC International trial which took many years.

“All the facts of the defence should have been presented and argued in court and not through posts on the Facebook platform,” he said.

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