No delaying tactics in Najib's SRC appeal - Lawyer

PUTRAJAYA: The Federal Court today was told that there was no allegation, proven or otherwise, that the postponement sought in the previous appeal by Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak's ex-counsel Datuk Hisyam Teh Pok Teik was a ploy to delay the proceedings.

Najib's lead counsel, Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah submitted that Hisyam applied for an adjournment of three to four months to enable him to make the best preparations for forward arguments in the main appeal at the Apex Court, considering that he was not ready since he had just taken over the case.

"It is pertinent to note that Hisyam informed the court that the fault was his and not that of the applicant (Najib) by accepting the brief at a late stage.

Muhammad Shafee said this at the hearing of Najib 's application to review the previous Federal Court ruling to uphold his conviction and 12 years' jail sentence and fine for misappropriation of RM42 million of SRC International Sdn Bhd funds.

The counsel said in these entire context, one fails to understand why the Federal Court was adopting the speed in which it undertook to complete this appeal and to deliver a verdict.

Nevertheless, Muhammad Shafee said, the Federal Court panel rejected the adjournment application and ordered for the main appeal hearing to begin on Aug 18, 2022, in spite of the fact that the court realised it was impossible for Hisyam to be ready by then.

"The rejection of the adjournment that took the form of written grounds is one of the decisions the applicant seeks to review," he said.

The lawyer said, on the same date (Aug 18) Hisyam once again applied for an adjournment on the grounds that he required reasonable time to prepare full arguments for the main appeal.

"However, the Federal Court panel once again rejected the request for an adjournment which had left Hisyam with no other choice but to discharge himself from representing the applicant," he said.

Describing his relationship with ZIST as acrimonious, Muhammad Shafee said the law firm had failed to tell Najib the truth by acting with blind confidence that the court would grant them an adjournment of the case.

"To begin with, ZIST had never done crime law and its partner lawyer Niru Pillai from Singapore was about to be disciplined by the Singaporean Bar because he practices without licence. On July 25 last year, Datuk Mohd Zaid Ibrahim and Niru adviced Najib to replace his entire legal team with ZIST. He also appointed Hisyam as new lead counsel as recommended by ZIST," he said.

The hearing before Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Datuk Abdul Rahman Sebli who chaired a five-member panel comprising Federal Court judges Datuk Vernon Ong Lam Kiat, Datuk Rhodzariah Bujang and Datuk Nordin Hassan continues on Feb 20.

Najib in his review application is seeking to overturn the decision made by a five-member bench of the Federal Court led by Chief Justice Tun Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat on Aug 23 last year in upholding his conviction and 12-year jail sentence and fine for misappropriation of RM42 million of SRC International funds.

Meanwhile, during a press conference, Muhammad Shafee said he was asked by Najib to come back because he (Najib) realised he made a mistake of trusting a certain individual.

"He (Najib) was aware of that, but you know when a man is in a desperate situation, he's hearing becomes a little bit more sensitive to all kinds of ideas. He will grab everything in order to see what is best for him," he said.

-- BERNAMA

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