FINAL APPEAL HEARING AT FEDERAL COURT
Jul 26, 2022: Najib’s new legal team for the SRC case was announced. It is headed by Mr Teh as counsel, with lawyers from Messrs Zaid Ibrahim Suflan TH Liew & Partners as co-counsels.
Jul 29, 2022: The Federal Court decided to proceed with the appeal as scheduled from Aug 15 despite a request from Najib’s new lawyers to have the hearing postponed on the ground that they needed more time to prepare for the case.
Aug 15, 2022: Mr Teh, the lead counsel, filed an application to adduce new evidence on the first day of the hearing for Najib’s final appeal at the Federal Court.
Aug 16, 2022: The Federal Court unanimously rejected Najib’s bid to introduce new evidence for his final appeal. The five-member judge led by Chief Justice Tengku Maimum Tuan Mat also rejected Najib’s legal team’s request for the case to be adjourned for three to four months.
Aug 18, 2022: The Federal Court began hearing Najib’s final appeal after rejecting the lead counsel’s request to discharge himself from the case. The court said that Mr Teh had failed to disclose adequate grounds to support his discharge application.
Aug 19, 2022: Najib discharges part of his legal team. The prosecution wrapped up their submissions, telling the court that the combined roles played by Najib enabled him to execute his plan of benefitting from SRC International funds.
“The SRC board of directors was rendered toothless and powerless by the most powerful man in the country,” the prosecutor said.
Aug 23, 2022: Najib failed in his bid to recuse Chief Justice Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat from presiding over his final appeal after an application was filed the night before. Citing a social media post by the Chief Justice’s husband in 2018, Mr Teh said it is clear that he had negative sentiments towards Najib’s leadership.
Hours later, the Federal Court upheld Najib’s guilty verdict and his 12-year jail sentence.
Sep 5, 2022: Parliament speaker Azhar Azizan Harun said that Najib will remain as a member of parliament as he has filed a petition seeking a royal pardon.
Sep 6, 2022: Najib applied for a review of the Federal Court’s decision. He asked to set aside the court’s decisions to dismiss his applications to recuse the Chief Justice and to include more information. The former prime minister also sought a stay of execution of his conviction and sentence pending the hearing of his review application.
BID TO REVIEW CONVICTION DISMISSED
Jan 19, 2023: Najib failed to recuse one of the sitting judges, Justice Abu Bakar Jais, a Court of Appeal judge, in his review application over his conviction in the SRC International case.
Mar 3, 2023: Najib was acquitted by the Malaysian court of charges related to the tampering of a 1MDB audit report. The charge focused on allegations that Najib ordered a report on the 1Malaysia Development Berhad sovereign wealth fund by the government’s official audit body to be altered in February 2016. His acquittal from the tampering charge did not affect his jail sentence.
Mar 31, 2023: Malaysia’s top court dismissed Najib’s bid to review his corruption conviction over the 1MDB case, ending Najib’s judicial efforts to challenge the guilty verdict. Federal Court Judge Vernon Ong said a five-member panel voted 4-1 to dismiss Najib’s application to review the conviction.