PUTRAJAYA: Malaysia’s Federal Court has unanimously dismissed a request by former prime minister Najib Razak to adjourn the hearing of his final appeal against a guilty verdict in the SRC International Sdn Bhd case.
Chief Justice Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat ruled on Tuesday (Aug 16) that parties are well aware of the hearing dates and should have taken every effort to be ready, Malaysiakini reported.
She ruled that the hearing will start this Thursday, according to the Edge.
Earlier on Tuesday, Najib’s lead counsel Hisyam Teh Poh Teik requested for the case to be deferred for three to four months, after the chief justice dismissed the defence’s application to adduce new evidence.
The Edge quoted the lead counsel as saying that the defence needed sufficient time to deal with the case. He said that he was not purposely delaying the appeal.
“There are 179 bundles of documents. This is no ordinary case, I say in my practice for four-and-a-half decades and there are strong points of law. Serious arguments will be made,” he said.
The charges against Najib, who served as prime minister from 2009 to 2018, involved the transfer of RM42 million (US$9.4 million) from SRC, a former subsidiary of 1Malaysia Development Bhd into his personal bank accounts in 2014 and 2015.
He was found guilty on three counts of criminal breach of trust, three counts of money laundering and one count of abuse of power by the High Court in July 2020.
The conviction was upheld by the Court of Appeal on Dec 8, 2021. Najib later filed a petition of appeal to the Federal Court on Apr 25 this year.
The Federal Court had set aside nine days – Aug 15 to Aug 19 and Aug 23 to Aug 26 – for his appeal. This is his final bid to overturn the guilty conviction.