Malaysia’s Federal Court rejects Najib’s bid to include new evidence in his final SRC International appeal
On Jul 28, 2020, the High Court found Najib Razak guilty of misappropriating funds from SRC International, a former subsidiary of 1MDB.
Former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, wearing a face mask arrives at Court of Appeal in Putrajaya, Malaysia, Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2022. Malaysia's top court Monday began hearing a final appeal by Najib to toss out his graft conviction linked to the massive looting of the 1Malaysia Development Berhad state fund. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)
PUTRAJAYA: Malaysia’s Federal Court has dismissed former prime minister Najib Razak’s application to include new evidence in his final appeal against the guilty verdict in the SRC International Sdn Bhd case.
According to the Star, Chief Justice Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat said on Tuesday (Aug 16) that the applicant had failed to state exactly what the proposed additional evidence would prove.
“To our mind, there is no miscarriage of justice,” she was quoted as saying.
The five-man panel's decision is unanimous.
The hearing for Najib’s final appeal to quash his graft conviction is ongoing.
On Monday, his legal team sought to adduce new evidence related to Judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali, who delivered the guilty verdict against Najib at the High Court in July 2020.
Judge Mohd Nazlan is now a Court of Appeal judge.
In a report by the Star, Najib's lead counsel Hisyam Teh Poh Teik said on Monday that the judge had conflicted himself with his roles in Maybank’s engagement in the formation of SRC, Maybank’s loan of RM140mil to Putra Perdana Development Bhd where SRC was the beneficiary, and Maybank’s RM4.17bil loan to 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB).
However, the prosecution said the judge’s previous role with Maybank was publicly known, and so it was preposterous to claim that it was a fact "recently discovered" or "deliberately suppressed".
Lead prosecutor V Sithambaram asked the court to dismiss the defence’s application.
The High Court had on Jul 28, 2020 found Najib guilty of misappropriating SRC International funds.
The charges against Najib, who served as prime minister from 2009 to 2018, involved the transfer of RM42 million from SRC, a former subsidiary of 1MDB into his personal bank accounts in 2014 and 2015.
He was found guilty on three counts of criminal breach of trust, three counts of money laundering and one count of abuse of power by the High Court in July 2020.
The conviction was upheld by the Court of Appeal on Dec 8, 2021 when the three-judge panel unanimously dismissed Najib’s appeal against the High Court’s decision. He later filed a petition of appeal to the Federal Court on Apr 25 this year.
The Federal Court had set aside nine days from Aug 15 to Aug 19 as well as Aug 23 to Aug 26, to hear Najib’s appeal.
DEFENCE SEEKS TO DEFER APPEAL HEARING
On Tuesday, Mr Teh requested for time to deal with the main appeal, after the chief justice dismissed the defence’s application to adduce new evidence.
The Edge quoted the lead counsel as saying that the defence needs sufficient time to deal with the case. He said that he was not purposely delaying the appeal.
"There are 179 bundles of documents. This is no ordinary case, I say in my practice for four-and-a-half decades and there are strong points of law. Serious arguments will be made,” he said.
He requested for the case to be deferred for three to four months.
The judges stood down to deliberate on whether to grant a postponement.
