THE daily grind of the SRC International Sdn Bhd trial got a “respite” when a group of Najib Razak supporters showed up at the Kuala Lumpur court complex with a birthday cake for the former prime minister, who turned 66 today.

Najib, who arrived about 11am, was greeted by some 50 supporters, who sang Happy Birthday.

Among the well-wishers was MIC vice-president M. Saravanan.

After blowing out the candle on the cake and eating a small piece of the sweet treat, he rushed inside for today’s proceedings, which were delayed as his lawyers attended to another matter at the Court of Appeal in Putrajaya this morning.

Chants of “lawan tetap lawan” accompanied Najib to the courtroom on the complex’s fifth floor.

A Najib supporter said there was supposed to be another group with a cake waiting for the former prime minister on the fifth floor, but court authorities did not allow it.

Najib’s lawyers were at the appellate court earlier to withdraw a defective charge appeal.

They sought to withdraw their client’s appeal against the Kuala Lumpur High Court’s decision to reject his application to strike out seven charges for allegedly receiving RM42 million in SRC International funds in his bank accounts.

High court judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali on April 29 ruled that the defence’s claim that the charges were flawed was without basis and not supported by evidence. – July 23, 2019.