PUTRAJAYA: The Federal Court will deliver on April 10 its decision on former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak’s final appeals and the prosecution appeal relating to Najib’s SRC International Sdn Bhd case.
Chief Justice Tan Sri Richard Malanjum, chairing a seven-man bench, set the date after hearing submissions from both side.
Najib, 66, is appealing against the Court of Appeal’s dismissal of his appeal regarding his request for additional documents, a gag order to prevent the media and public from discussing the merits of his case, and on the attorney-general’s move to withdraw his certificate to transfer seven charges from the sessions court to the High Court.
While the prosecution is appealing against the Court of Appeal’s decision allowing Najib’s appeal to have the prosecution produce the appointment letter of ad hoc prosecutor Sulaiman Abdullah.
Earlier, Najib’s lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah submitted that his client’s case would complete faster if the prosecution supplied the documents sought by the defence.
Citing the case of Tan Sri Kasitah Gaddam, who was former Minister of Land and Cooperative Development, Muhammad Shafee who was Kasitah’s lawyer, said the prosecution and the defence had exchanged documents pertaining to the case.
“The case was scheduled for four months but we finish the trial in the High Court within three weeks,” he said.
Kasitah was charged with committing corrupt practice and cheating involving shares belonging to the Sabah Land Development Board (SLDB) in 2007. He, however was acquitted from the two charges at the end of prosecution case without call to enter defence.
He was the first Cabinet member to be charged with such crimes.
Co-counsel Harvinderjit Singh submitted that the documents such as investigation statement of witnesses should be supply in the interest of justice under the Whistleblowers Protection Act 2010, which to protect witnesses from being tampered with.
He said the defence had sought all statements recorded from witnesses by the investigation authorities under Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Act 2009 and under Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001 during investigations into the charges faced by Najib.
Ad-hoc DPP Datuk V. Sithambaram countered that the defence sought documents that the prosecution did not intend to use as part of the prosecution case.
“The granting of the order sought by the defence will effectively mean that the entire investigating papers (IP) have to be delivered over to them. The upshot is that, in future, the entire IP have to be handed over to the defence in all MACC and AMLA cases,” he said.
He also said the defence wanted the prosecution to produce all witness statements and documents which could be done during the course of the trial.
He said the prosecution has to date delivered 32 volumes of documents (approximately 7,000 pages) to the defence.
The panel yesterday heard the prosecution’s appeal against the Court of Appeal decision allowing Najib’s appeal to have the prosecution produce the appointment letter of ad hoc prosecutor Sulaiman Abdullah.
The bench also heard Najib’s appeal on the High Court’s refusal of a gag order to prevent the media and public from discussing the merits of his case.
On March 27, the Federal Court lifted the stay of the trial granted by the Court of Appeal to Najib, pending disposal of his appeals over interlocutory and ordered the Kuala Lumpur High Court to fix a trial date.
High Court Judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali fixed April 3 for trial and the prosecution had called one witness to testify on that day.
The trial has been set to continue on April 15 until May 10.
Najib is facing three counts of criminal breach of trust, one charge of abusing his position and three counts of money laundering over SRC International funds, amounting to RM42 million. — Bernama
