[UPDATED] Najib to stay behind bars as apex court rejects review bid

PUTRAJAYA – Datuk Seri Najib Razak has failed in his bid to overturn the Federal Court’s ruling last year, which upheld his guilty verdict and 12-year jail sentence in his SRC International Sdn Bhd case. 

This is after a five-member bench of the apex court here rejected his review application in a non-unanimous ruling, effectively meaning the former prime minister will continue serving the remaining duration of his sentence in Kajang Prison. 

Federal Court judge Datuk Vernon Ong delivered the majority judgment at 9.52am. 

Other members of the bench who made similar judgments were Federal Court judges Datuk Rhodzariah Bujang and Datuk Nordin Hassan, and Court of Appeal judge Datuk Abu Bakar Jais. 

Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Datuk Abdul Rahman Sebli made the sole dissenting decision.

In delivering the majority judgment, Ong said the decision to reject Najib’s review application was made after considering all submissions in the earlier trials, as well as all evidence presented by the prosecution and the defence through their arguments. 

He said having considered all the records, the apex court found that all earlier convictions against Najib are safe and that the sentences imposed against the former prime minister are not excessive, and therefore affirmed. 

Further, he said the applicant’s response to the dismissal of his previous appeal had been wholly disproportionate. 

Ong said while Najib’s feeling that there was a breach of natural justice and an abuse of court process in the court’s decision to uphold his guilty verdict last year may be genuine, this cannot dictate the conclusion made by the panel hearing his review application. 

“In this matter, with respect, we are constrained to say the applicant is the author of his own misfortune.

“We are of the view that the review application did no more than challenge the merit of the Federal Court’s decision. Accordingly, the review application is hereby dismissed.”

Earlier, approximately 30 supporters of the former prime minister gathered outside the Palace of Justice, here.

Shortly after 8.30am, Najib’s daughter, Nooryana Najwa Najib arrived in a white luxury sedan.

Five minutes later, Najib’s lead counsel Tan Sri Shafee Abdullah was also seen arriving at court, followed shortly thereafter by ad hoc prosecutor Datuk V. Sithambaram.

It is learnt that Najib arrived with the Prisons Department convoy around 8.36am before being whisked straight into the courtroom while his wife Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor arrived at 8.52am.

A recap of today's trial.

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Today’s verdict followed a six-day proceeding which started on January 19. 

During the hearing, Shafee had argued that the earlier Federal Court bench that heard the main appeal made a fundamental error in law by not allowing the adjournment of the trial and then not allowing ex-counsel Datuk Hisyam Teh to discharge himself. 

This is in reference to the five-member panel led by Chief Justice Tun Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat, which ruled on August 23 last year that Najib’s earlier guilty verdict would be upheld. 

Shafee had also contended that a Facebook posting by Tengku Maimun’s husband on May 11, 2018 amounted to a public declaration of hatred against Najib, and that as such, the top judge should have recused herself.

However, Sithambaram argued that there was no breach of natural justice, miscarriage of justice or abuse of the court process in the case as the defence team was given due opportunity during the final appeal process. 

On July 28, 2020, then high court judge Datuk Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali sentenced Najib to 10 years’ jail on each of the three counts of criminal breach of trust and each of the three counts of money laundering, and 12 years’ jail and RM210 million fine or five years’ jail in default, in the case of abuse of his position. 

This is over the misappropriation of RM42 million of SRC International funds. 

On December 8, 2021, the Court of Appeal upheld the high court’s decision, before the apex court made a similar ruling. 

Najib had applied for his appeal to be reheard by a new Federal Court panel consisting of at least seven judges and that he be given a stay of execution for his jail sentence pending the hearing of his review application. – The Vibes, March 31, 2023

Additional reporting by Lancelot Theseira