Former premier Najib Abdul Razak is “shocked and bitterly disappointed” with the Federal Court’s decision not to allow his application to adduce additional evidence linked to the RM42 million SRC International corruption case.
“I believe the evidence would clearly indicate that judge Nazlan (Mohd Ghazali) was heavily conflicted,” he told a press conference at the Palace of Justice in Putrajaya.
Najib claimed that Nazlan, the judge who convicted him, was aware of the 1MDB and SRC transactions and therefore deemed to have personal knowledge of these two entities.
“I believe the MACC investigators were also aware of this fact, but we were unable to adduce (the evidence).
“I hoped that in the final appeal, we could show the truth of the matter,” he added.
The five-person bench chaired by Chief Justice Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat also unanimously rejected Najib’s bid to seek an adjournment of the main SRC appeal hearing for several months.
The chief justice ruled that the parties were aware of the hearing dates set from Aug 15 to 26 and should have taken all efforts to be prepared.
She, however, allowed the hearing to be postponed to Thursday.
The Federal Court had set nine days beginning yesterday (Aug 15) to hear the former premier’s appeal.
This is Najib’s final avenue to avoid landing in prison.
Najib’s lawyer Hisyam Teh Poh Teik was equally disappointed with the court’s decision.
“I’m lost for words because I’m also shocked. Even the request for adjournment was not considered.
“We put up strong grounds (argument). I thought the court would be sympathetic and exercise its discretion. We felt there was basis for them to exercise discretion in our favour.
“But unfortunately, it was not so. So, we will go back and relook at the course of action we will take and come back on Thursday morning.”
Meanwhile, former law minister Datuk Zaid Ibrahim today said that “justice is a long road” after the Federal Court decided to disallow Najib’s bid to present new evidence in his final SRC appeal.
Expressing his sympathy to Najib and his family, Zaid said he too shared similar sentiments with fellow counsel Hisyam and Najib over the Federal Court’s earlier ruling which also included rejecting an adjournment to hearings sought by the defence team.
“Justice is a long road. Sometimes, you can get it here, you can get it elsewhere,” Zaid told a press conference at the Palace of Justice.
Earlier report:
Aug 16, Najib’s SRC appeal: No to introduce extra evidence, postpone hearing