TOP criminal lawyer V. Sithambaram has confirmed that he will join the prosecution team in next week’s highly anticipated SRC International Sdn Bhd trial against Najib Razak. 

Sithambaram and Sulaiman Abdullah will lead the prosecution in the trial which begins on February 12.

“I can confirm that I have been appointed,” Sithambaram told The Malaysian Insight about his appointment by the Attorney-General’s Chambers.

Najib’s case involves the alleged siphoning of RM89 million from the now defunct 1Malaysia Development Bhd subsidiary into his private bank account.

Some 50 witnesses will be called by the prosecution to shed light on how the monies from SRC International were transferred into Najib’s account. 

The trial will run from from February 12 to 28, and March 4 to 29. 

Najib was hit with seven charges in July and August last year over RM42 million, and last week, he was slapped with an additional three charges that amounted to RM47 million.

The 10 charges are apart from 32 others linked to the scandal-ridden 1MDB, involving a sum of RM2.3 billion.

Sithambaram has appeared in many high-profile cases in his legal career. 

He defended Dr Mahathir Mohamad when the latter was sued in 2007 by Anwar Ibrahim for allegedly making defamatory statements against the then-opposition leader.

Sithambaram also acted for Abdul Rahim Noor when the former inspector-general of police was charged with assaulting Anwar. 

More recently, the former chairman of the Bar Council’s criminal law committee defended businesswoman Phang Li Koon in the corruption case against her and former Penang chief minister Lim Guan Eng.

Legal experts say that Sithambaram’s appointment is a sensible one, given his experience in defending criminals as he will be able to anticipate and counter moves made by Najib’s lead lawyer Shafee Abdullah. – February 4, 2019.