KUALA LUMPUR: Datuk Sulaiman Abdullah today described as irresponsible the defence bid to challenge his appointment as the lead prosecutor in the SRC International Sdn Bhd case involving former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak at the eleventh hour.
Sulaiman, who was appointed the senior DPP by the Attorney-General’s Chambers, told the High Court that the defence should have raised the matter on the day one when the case was called up.
“It is irresponsible for the defence to put in the application to challenge the appointment at the very last moment. It is too late,“ he said when the case came up for case management before judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali.
He also said that the prosecution would definitely file the preliminary objection to the application.
Earlier, Najib’s lawyer, Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah requested that the matter be heard together with the application for the discovery of documents, including witness statements, that should have been served on them by the prosecution.
“It is to expedite the case and I am ready to submit sometime in December. Perhaps the matter will be settled before Christmas,“ said Muhammad Shafee, to which Mohd Nazlan jokingly said: “I thought you told me that you are going on a vacation?”
“That was before they (the court) took my passport away,“ Muhammad Shafee said, drawing laughter from the public gallery.
The court then fixed Dec 18 to hear both the applications.
Najib, 65, was calm in the dock during the hearing.
On July 4, the Pekan MP was charged with three counts of criminal breach of trust (CBT) and one of abuse of power for gratification involving SRC International funds amounting to RM42 million.
On Aug 8, he was charged with three counts of money laundering involving the same amount of money. — Bernama
