Najib embezzled RM42 mil of SRC funds, Court affirms

THE Court of Appeal has upheld the conviction as well as 12-year jail term and RM210 mil fine against Najib Abdul Razak in the RM42 mil SRC International Sdn Bhd corruption case.

A three-person bench chaired by Justice Abdul Karim Abdul Jalil unanimously dismissed the former prime minister’s appeal to reverse the guilty verdict and sentencing over seven charges of abuse of power, criminal breach of trust and money laundering.

“We dismiss the appeal on all seven charges and affirm the conviction,” Justice Abdul Karim said on Wednesday (Dec 8).

The panel also said it found no appealable errors that would warrant appellate intervention.

In the decision, Justice Abdul Karim touched on several pertinent matters that were raised during the appeal, including the definition of a “shadow director” in SRC International.

“A shadow director largely operates clandestinely without showing the hands,” he said.

But when the evidence was scrutinised, the hands were “found”.

Justice Abdul Karim further added that the learned trial judge was correct when he found the totality of evidence had showed who was the shadow director of SRC International.

“There are ample evidence that the directors (of the company) followed the instructions by the appellant (Najib),” he said.

Najib, 68, was accused of misappropriating RM27 mil and RM5 mil in December 2014, and another RM10 mil in Feb 2015 as a public servant and agent of the government, namely the prime minister, finance minister and SRC International adviser emeritus.

The funds were part of two loans from the Retirement Fund Inc (KWAP) to SRC worth a total of RM4 bil.
The charges were made under Section 409 of the Penal Code, which provides for a jail term of up to 20 years, whipping and a fine upon conviction.

Meanwhile, the bench has allowed the defence’s application for stay of execution of the 12-year jail term and RM210 million fine, with Justice Abdul Karim saying that the stay of execution also covers the conviction against Najib, pending appeal to the Federal Court.

He added that the terms of the stay are the same as that given by the High Court, namely that the bail remains at RM2 million with two sureties, as well as reporting to the nearest police station twice a month. – Dec 8, 2021

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