THE country’s highest court is today scheduled to hear submissions from Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s lawyer to quash the former prime minister’s conviction and sentence for misappropriating RM42 mil in SRC International funds.
However, if Najib’s newly-appointed lawyer, Hisyam Teh Poh Teik, refuses to make any submissions, then the Federal Court’s five-member bench led by Chief Justice Tun Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat might deliver her decision on the spot or postpone it to another date.
Last Friday (Aug 19), Hisyam told the panel that he will not make any submissions, not even orally, to defend the former prime minister.
Tengku Maimun, who presided over the appeal with Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Tan Sri Abang Iskandar Abang Hashim and Federal Court judges Datuk Nallini Pathmanathan, Datuk Mary Lim Thiam Suan and Datuk Mohamad Zabidin Mohd, said the court will deal with the matter today.
The prosecution led by ad hoc prosecutor Datuk V Sithambaram, when wrapping up its submissions on Friday, said the court could proceed to deliberate on a decision in the absence of the former premier’s fresh written or oral submissions.
The appeal proceedings, which started on Thursday (Aug 18), saw several plot twists with the first being Hisyam seeking to recuse himself from representing Najib. However, his request was turned down by the court, which then ordered the prosecution to submit.
The prominent lawyer also told the panel that Najib had discharged his solicitors, Zaid Ibrahim Suflan TH Liew & Partners, from representing him.
The lawyer once again asked the court to postpone the hearing to this Thursday (Aug 25) as he had other cases on Tuesday and Wednesday (Aug 23 and 24), but it also was rejected by the court.
On Aug 16, the court dismissed Hisyam’s application to postpone the appeal hearing and ordered the appeal to proceed on Aug 18.
On July 28, 2020, then High Court Judge Datuk Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali, who is now a Court of Appeal judge, sentenced Najib to 10 years’ jail on each of the three counts of criminal breach of trust (CBT) and each of the three counts of money laundering, and 12 years’ jail and an RM210 mil fine, in default five years’ jail, in the case of abuse of power.
However, Najib would have to serve only 12 years in jail as the judge ordered all the jail sentences to run concurrently.
Najib is currently out on bail of RM2 mil in two sureties pending appeal.
Last year, the Court of Appeal upheld the High Court’s decision and dismissed Najib’s appeal to set aside his conviction and jail sentence as well as the fine. – Aug 23, 2022
Main photo credit: Bernama
