SO Chief Justice (CJ) Tun Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat has sensibly rejected former premier Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s bid to postpone his final appeal – on grounds of wishing to adduce fresh evidence – in his final SRC International Sdn Bhd case appeal.
After all, whether for tactical reason or otherwise, the appellant has insisted to opt for a change of counsel despite being “well aware” of the consequences of his decision (tight appeal dates).
Yesterday (Aug 16), the five-member bench led by Tengku Maimun dismissed the adjournment application made by Najib’s new legal team headed by Hisyam Teh Poh Teik who had requested the Federal Court to grant his team adequate time to carry out their duty since they only recently took over the appeal in addition to the need to juggle with voluminous documents that contain “strong serious points to be canvassed”.
Najib who is appealing against his conviction and sentence for the misappropriation of RM42 mil in the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB)-linked unit has sought an additional “three to four months” to present his final appeal at the Federal Court.
Other judges on the bench are Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Justice Abang Iskandar Abang Hashim and Federal Court judges Justices Nallini Pathmanathan, Mary Lim Thiam Suan, and Mohamad Zabidin Mohd Diah.
“To put it bluntly, the defence seeks an adjournment of these appeals for the simple reason that they are not prepared,” theedgemarkets.com cited Tengku Maimun as having written in her broad grounds of judgement.
“The appellant (Najib), having been well aware of the dates fixed for the hearing, elected to discharge his former solicitors and appoint Messrs Zaid Ibrahim and Hisyam Teh as his solicitors and counsel respectively.
“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 appeal.”
The Federal Court will be Najib’s last hope to file an appeal after a three-man Court of Appeal bench on Dec 8 last year upheld the Pekan MP’s conviction alongside a 12-year jail term and the RM210 mil fine handed down on him by trial judge Datuk Mohd Nazlan Ghazali on July 28, 2020.
“No” to delay technique
In all fairness, the Aug 15 to 26 dates to hear his appeal had been fixed since April, hence Najib’s new legal counsel should be aware that time is of essence when they took over the case on July 26 to replace Messrs Shafee & Co.
“The new lawyers too, having accepted the brief, are not entitled to say they need more time to prepare, knowing full well that the dates have been fixed well in advance. Given the circumstances we have outlined, the request for the adjournment and the grounds in support thereof are neither cogent nor reasonable,” contended Tengku Maimun.
As rightly pointed out by the CJ, “considerable public funds” would be wasted if an adjournment is granted – something that Najib should be aware of given he had doubled up as Malaysia’s finance minister during his premiership tenure, not to mention the precarious financial position the country is in at this current juncture.
Henceforth, Tengku Maimun has struck a chord once more by arguing that while Najib has the right to change his counsel, he is not entitled to make the choice “at the expense of the court, the prosecution or the entire justice system”.
It is pretty obvious that if Najib’s case is granted time extension, many other cases will have to wait their turn for their appeals to be heard.
“…. the time taken on this case, especially the number of days fixed for hearing, means many other criminal cases and accused persons have had to wait their turn for their appeals to be heard. Justice delayed in this case is also justice denied to other accused persons,” Tengku Maimun pointed out.
To sum up, the CJ has further ordered the hearing of the final SRC International appeal to begin today (Aug 18). – Aug 18, 2022
