KUALA LUMPUR, April 3 — A lawyer representing Datuk Seri Najib Razak said today the Federal Court’s dissenting judgment in refusing the former prime minister’s bid for it to review its ruling last year will be used to support his client’s bid for a royal pardon.
Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah said the minority judgment by Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Datuk Abdul Rahman Sebli and the majority judgment will be presented to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong for consideration to determine which was the “better judgment”.
“Our pardon is exactly what Abdul Rahman said in his judgment. Our request for pardon is not because ‘I’m sorry, and therefore, I throw myself upon your mercy, no’.
“We are saying this man has got no right to a fair trial. He was not even heard and the court heard the prosecution ex parte,” he told reporters at the KL court complex.
Muhammad Shafee said the King needed to make a comparison of the judgments because one senior judge had agreed with the defence’s contention.
Last week, the majority decision by four judges on the panel rejected Najib’s challenge against his conviction and jail sentence in the SRC case, and effectively endorsed the August 2022 decision of the Federal Court panel chaired by Chief Justice Tun Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat which had ordered Najib to begin serving his 12-year sentence.
Federal Court judge Datuk Vernon Ong Lam Kiat read out the majority decision, which was agreed to by three others on the panel — Federal Court judges Datuk Rhodzariah Bujang and Datuk Nordin Hassan, and Court of Appeal judge Datuk Abu Bakar Jais who was sitting as a Federal Court judge.
Abdul Rahman, who was chairing the five-judge bench, was the only judge who dissented or disagreed with the majority.
In his dissenting judgment, Abdul Rahman said Najib ought to be acquitted and discharged of all criminal charges since an injustice had taken place.
He said there appeared to be a miscarriage of justice in the main appeal process when Najib was left without legal representation after his then-lead counsel Datuk Hisyam Teh Poh Teik said he was not prepared to submit, and subsequently, sought to discharge himself.
On July 28, 2020, then High Court judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali found Najib guilty of all seven charges — three for criminal breach of trust, three for money laundering, and one for abuse of power — at the High Court.
Mohd Nazlan, who is now a Court of Appeal judge, then sentenced Najib to 12 years in prison and fined him RM210 million in default five years imprisonment.
His decision was upheld by the Court of Appeal on December 8, 2021.
