THE lead counsel acting for Datuk Seri Najib Razak in his SRC International RM42 mil corruption case has sought to discharge himself from representing the former prime minister, according to media reports.
This comes after the Federal Court this morning again rejected Najib’s newly-appointed legal team’s request to postpone the hearing of the Pekan MP’s final appeal of the case as they need more time to prepare.
The five-member bench, led by Chief Justice Tun Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat, said Hisyam Teh Poh Teik should not walk away as lead counsel and leave his client unrepresented, to which Hisyam agreed and apologised.
She also said the apex court bench was confident in the ability of Hisyam and his co-counsels to carry out the appeal.
“The fact that SG (Solicitor-General 1 Datuk Ahmad Terrirudin Mohd Salleh) is here for the prosecution and has no objection does not change anything,” she added, Free Malaysia Today (FMT) reported.
After a standdown, the Federal Court disallowed Hisyam’s request to discharge himself as he did not disclose adequate grounds to support his application.
However, as Hisyam reportedly refused to present his submission on Najib’s main SRC appeal, the court moved to allow the prosecution to submit first.
It was previously reported that Najib’s new lawyers from Messrs Zaid Ibrahim Suffian TH Liew & Partners would discharge themselves from acting for the former finance minister if their appeal to postpone the hearing in the Federal Court fails.
At the time, Datuk Mohd Zaid Ibrahim denied that this was the case, with the former law minister saying that his firm will not abandon its clients.
“Final appeal would proceed as scheduled”
Multiple attempts have been made since then to postpone the hearing, the latest being on Tuesday (June 16). This too was rejected by the Federal Court, which ruled that Najib’s final appeal would start today as scheduled.
Earlier this week, Hisyam asked for a postponement of up to “three to four months” as the defence needed more time to prepare for the case, which it took up barely one month ago.
However, Tengku Maimun on Tuesday said all parties were “well aware” since April that the final appeal had been fixed for this month, and that a request for an adjournment on this ground was previously refused by the court registrar.
Still, Najib chose to discharge Shafee & Co and appoint Messrs Zaid Ibrahim Suffian TH Liew & Partners and Hisyam as his solicitors and lead counsel, respectively, she noted.
“This is his right to do so, but he cannot, after having made that decision, turn around and say that his new lawyers are not ready to proceed with the hearing of the appeals,” Tengku Maimun said, FMT reported.
“The new lawyers, too, having accepted the brief, are not entitled to say they need more time to prepare, knowing fully well that the dates had been fixed well in advance,” she added.
Background
On July 26, Najib benched his long-time lawyer Tan Sri Dr Muhammad Shafee Abdullah and his firm, Messrs Shafee & Co, and appointed Datuk Mohd Zaid Ibrahim’s law firm to lead his new defence team.
The last-minute change of events was seen as bizarre since Shafee has been representing Najib in the SRC case since it started several years ago.
In July 2020, Najib was found guilty of seven charges of power abuse, criminal breach of trust and money laundering in the SRC International case. He was also fined RM210 mil and sentenced to 12 years in jail.
Najib appealed the charges and fine at the Court of Appeal. Last December, the appellate court dismissed the appeal and ruled that Najib’s conviction, alongside the jail sentence and fine, should be upheld.
The Court of Appeal had also infamously branded Najib’s conduct in the misappropriation of funds from SRC International – a former subsidiary company of 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) – as a “national embarrassment”.
Najib is out on bail pending the Federal Court appeal, slated for Aug 15 to 19, followed by Aug 23 to 26, 2022. This is his final appeal in the case after he exhausted the appeals processes in the lower courts.
On Tuesday, the Federal Court also dismissed Najib’s bid to include fresh evidence in the case. – Aug 18, 2022
