[UPDATED] ‘Court can quash Najib’s SRC charges since judge didn’t disclose link’

PUTRAJAYA – The seven charges against former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak in the SRC International Sdn Bhd case can be quashed following high court judge Datuk Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali’s failure to disclose his role in his previous job in 2012 as Maybank’s company secretary and group general counsel.

Speaking to reporters in the Palace of Justice this afternoon, Najib’s lead counsel Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah said his team will be submitting an application for a retrial as soon as possible, pending approval by the Federal Court.

“This is because he is the primary judge (in the SRC case). This trial has gone on for so many days and how much energy and money have been wasted.

“This is a blind judiciary. We’ll say the entire charges will have to be quashed. But these are alternatives.

“Whether it is significant or not, the court will determine,” he said.

Nazlan was the presiding judge in Najib’s SRC trial at the Kuala Lumpur High Court that commenced in April 2019 and delivered the guilty verdict in July 2020.

He was also the judge who convicted and sentenced the Pekan MP on charges relating to funds belonging to SRC International in July 2020.

An appeal against the conviction is pending before the Federal Court.

In yesterday’s cross-examination of the 12th prosecution witness Azmi Tahir, former 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) chief financial officer, minutes of a Maybank board meeting in 2012 were tendered as evidence.

In the minutes, Nazlan was mentioned as a participant of the meeting minutes. According to Shafee, Nazlan held the position from 2005 until 2015.

Shafee added that the meeting discussed a RM6.17 billion loan from Maybank to help finance 1MDB’s acquisition of Tanjong Energy, and that SRC International was a subsidiary of 1MDB at that time.

So, he reiterated today that Nazlan should have disclosed his position at the bank at that time, saying that he would be an important witness in the 1MDB proceedings.

“He should have recused himself from hearing the SRC International trial. If he was going to be an important witness in 1MDB, then we could not have him to be the judge to hear the SRC case.

“He would have got certain ideas on 1MDB and SRC and may have some prejudice (towards the cases),” Shafee alleged.

In July 2020, Najib was found guilty of all seven charges of abuse of power, criminal breach of trust and money laundering in the SRC case.

He was sentenced to 12 years in prison and fined RM210 million for committing the offence.

In December last year, the Court of Appeal upheld the decision with Judge Datuk Abdul Karim Abdul Jalil, pointing out that Najib’s actions on the RM4 billion loan to SRC International were not for national interest but for personal benefit.

Karim said that it resulted in no national interest, but rather a national embarrassment.

Najib is appealing the decision at the Federal Court. – The Vibes, March 15, 2022