PUTRAJAYA – The Federal Court has fixed August 10 for the hearing of UK-based King’s Counsel Jonathan Laidlaw’s appeal to be admitted as an advocate and solicitor to represent former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak in the SRC International Sdn Bhd (SRC International) criminal case.
The hearing date was fixed during a case management before Federal Court deputy registrar Suhaila Haron last Thursday (May 18).
Counsel Wan Mohammad Arfan Wan Othman, who appeared for Laidlaw in the case management, and Malaysian Bar lawyer Annemarie Pravina Vendargon confirmed the hearing date when contacted.
Vendargon said the Federal Court will hear on the same day the applications by the public prosecutor, Attorney-General’s Chambers, Malaysian Bar, and Kuala Lumpur Bar Committee to strike out Laidlaw’s appeal and the public prosecutor’s intervener application.
The public prosecutor, who was not named as a respondent in Laidlaw’s appeal, had filed the intervener application to be included as the fourth respondent in his appeal, as it said it was a party in the proceedings at the high court but was unilaterally dropped in the appeal.
Meanwhile, Wan Mohammad Arfan said as of now the appeal is still on.
It is unclear why Laidlaw wants to proceed with the appeal when the Federal Court had on March 31 this year dismissed Najib’s review application against his conviction, custodial sentence, and fine for misappropriation of RM42 million in SRC International funds.
Previously, Najib’s counsel Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah said that Laidlaw would represent Najib if there was a rehearing of his appeal pertaining to his SRC International case in the Federal Court .
The high court in 2020 had sentenced Najib to 12 years in jail and fined him RM210 million. His appeal against his conviction and sentence was dismissed by the Court of Appeal in 2021.
Najib, 69, is serving his sentence in Kajang Prison after the Federal Court upheld his conviction, sentence and fine on August 23 last year. – Bernama, May 22, 2023
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