[UPDATED] Hisyam says cannot file fresh submissions in Najib’s SRC final appeal

PUTRAJAYA – The defence in Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s SRC International Sdn Bhd final appeal hearing will not be filing fresh submissions on the case unless an adjournment is granted, the Federal Court here was told today.

Lead defence counsel Hisyam Teh Poh Teik initially said his team will submit new written submissions on the case but did not indicate when they would do so.

Later on, however, he told the court that he could not do so due to the lack of time and preparedness.

“Just now (before lunch break) when My Lady asked whether I would be relying on submissions to the Court of Appeal, I answered yes. 

“At this juncture, I would like to put on record that I wish to put in written submissions on behalf of the appellant,” Hisyam told the apex bench led by chief justice Tun Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat. 

Earlier in the day, Tengku Maimun had asked whether Hisyam would be relying on the submission prepared by Najib’s previous lawyers in the Court of Appeal.

Hisyam confirmed that he would do so.

This is after the Federal Court this morning unanimously rejected Hisyam’s application to discharge himself in the case on grounds that he and his team do not have enough time to prepare.

Tengku Maimun had ordered Hisyam to stay and proceed to argue the case as scheduled, stating that the new defence team should have been well aware of the trial dates before taking on the case.

The hearing then proceeded with ad hoc prosecutor Datuk V. Sithambaram giving his oral submission to the court after Hisyam said he would not submit orally.

During proceedings later, however, Hisyam clarified that he would only file fresh submissions if the court granted him an adjournment.

Hisyam: It’s been reported on social media that we are filing for fresh submissions in reply to my learned friend (the prosecution).

Tengku Maimun: Yes.

Hisyam: I would like to clarify again that I’m in no position to participate in these proceedings because my application for adjournment was not allowed.

Tengku Maimun: No, what were you saying earlier on, is that you would like to act upon the written submissions in the Court of Appeal, and you would like to file a fresh submission, and you would like to relook at the petition of appeal…

Hisyam: If given time. That’s what I meant if given the adjournment. Without the adjournment, I cannot participate.

Tengku Maimun: Well I am not going to repeat myself. We are not going to adjourn this matter.

The chief justice then adjourned court for the day and for the hearing to continue tomorrow. 

Hisyam, of Messrs Hisyam Teh and Zaid Ibrahim Suflan TH Liew and Partners, was engaged on July 25, three weeks before Najib’s SRC appeal hearing was to begin on Monday (August 15).

He replaced Najib’s previous lawyers, Tan Sri Shafee Abdullah and his law firm Shafee & Co.

Najib is appealing his conviction of misappropriating RM42 million belonging to SRC, handed down on July 28, 2020 by high court judge Datuk Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali, who sentenced the former prime minister to 12 years in jail and a RM210 million fine.

The Court of Appeal upheld Najib’s conviction on December 8 last year.

Once the hearing for his final appeal concludes on August 26, the apex court is expected to make a decision a few months later.

If Najib’s conviction is upheld by the Federal Court, he will immediately have to serve his sentence. He would also have exhausted all legal means to appeal in this case.

The only recourse open to the former prime minister would then be to apply for a royal pardon after he has begun serving his sentence.

Other members of the apex panel hearing the appeal are chief judge of Sabah and Sarawak Tan Sri Abang Iskandar Abang Hashim as well as the Federal Court’s Datuk Nallini Pathmanathan, Datuk Mary Lim Thiam Suan, and Datuk Mohamad Zabidin Mohd Diah. – The Vibes, August 18, 2022