TAN Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah said he is confident of winning former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s other criminal cases, including the SRC International conviction and sentence review in the Federal Court.
This is after Najib was acquitted over charges of tampering with 1Malaysia Development Bhd’s (1MDB) 2016 audit report this morning.
The lawyer, who was hopeful that “more good things” will come for his client, also claimed that Najib’s SRC International conviction and sentence were “politically charged”.
“You cannot dilute the fact that these are politically charged cases and if it is politically charged, then there are other dimensions and other considerations that come into play,” he was reported as saying at a press conference following the Kuala Lumpur High Court’s decision earlier today.
He further noted that due to the political dynamics, lawyers in these cases cannot accurately predict the outcome of the trial.
“In this case, out of all these politically-charged cases, this is the first good result we received and it is 100% a win,” he asserted.
“I hope the Attorney-General’s Chambers would not appeal on this because the judge is completely supportable.”
Earlier today, justice Mohamed Zaini Mazlan had acquitted Najib, who was previously charged with abusing his position as prime minister and finance minister to order amendments in Feb 2016 to the auditor-general’s audit report on 1MDB before it was presented to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) to avoid any civil or criminal action against him.
Former 1MDB chief executive (CEO) Arul Kanda Kandasamy was also acquitted from his charge of abetting Najib in the report’s tampering in the same proceeding.
According to Shafee, it was crucial to note that Zaini had found no elements of gratification by Najib.
“This is an important note from the decision that there is no element of gratification, no element of corruption against Datuk Seri Najib in this charge,” he stressed. – March 3, 2023
Main pic credit: The Edge Markets
