FORMER prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak has discharged his newly-appointed legal firm Zaid Ibrahim Suflan TH Liew & Partners from representing him in his SRC International appeal.
Lead counsel Hisyam Teh Poh Teik informed the apex court of this matter when the hearing resumed this morning.
“The solicitors have been discharged by the appellant (Najib),” he said.
To that, Chief Justice Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat – who chairs a five-member Federal Court bench – said the court took note of the matter, and ordered ad hoc prosecutor V. Sithambaram to continue with his submissions.
On July 25, in a twist to his case, Najib had resorted to replacing his long-time counsel Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah with former law minister Datuk Mohd Zaid Ibrahim to handle his final appeal at the Federal Court.
In a lengthy post on Facebook yesterday evening (Aug 18) Najib said that while his previous lawyers have done a stellar job over the past four years representing him in the High Court and Court of Appeal for this case, fresh perspective to bring in new ideas was warranted.
He was also convinced that appointing new lawyers was an “appropriate decision” after being told that other high-profile appeals in the past were granted adjournments in the spirit of due process and to facilitate an effective representation of an accused person.
The court yesterday disallowed Hisyam from discharging himself as Najib’s counsel after he told the panel he did not have enough time to prepare for the appeal.
However, Tengku Maimun said the court was of the unanimous view that Hisyam “failed to disclose adequate reasons” to justify his recusal bid, and ordered him to proceed.
On Tuesday (Aug 16) Najib’s lawyers requested the Federal Court to postpone his SRC International appeal for “three to four months”, stressing that the new defence team only took over the case less than one month ago.
Tengku Maimun however dismissed the postponement application and pointed out that prior to agreeing to act for Najib, the new legal team should have been aware of the SRC appeal hearing dates as that had been set four months back on April 8.
The other judges sitting with Tengku Maimun are Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Tan Sri Abang Iskandar Abang Hashim and Federal Court Judges Datuk P. Nalini, Datuk Mary Lim Thiam Suan and Datuk Muhammad Zabidin Mohd Diah.
Najib is appealing against the 12-year jail sentence and RM210 mil fine that was imposed on him by Kuala Lumpur High Court judge Datuk Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali for misappropriating RM42 mil of SRC International money. – Aug 19, 2022
