THE Kuala Lumpur High Court today dismissed an application from Najib Razak for court to be adjourned for him to attend parliament.

His lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah had applied to the judge for deferment as it was “critical” that the accused be present at today’s sitting to vote on the issue of mandatory declaration of assets for MPs.

Justice Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali said it was not certain that voting on any particular issue would take place today. 

“The important point is that even though he is a member of parliament, he is accused of seven criminal charges,” he ruled.

The former prime minister is the Pekan MP.

Nazlan added that the court is not preventing Najib from attending parliament when there are no hearings for his trial. 

Najib, dressed in a blue suit, remained expressionless as he sat in the dock. 

Lead defence counsel Shafee Abdullah had earlier told the court that it sought an adjournment today for a “critical bill” to compel MPs to declare their assets. Najib also sought another adjournment in about two weeks to attend a debate on another bill to lower the voting age from 21 to 18. 

“My client is an MP. He has a statutory duty to be in Parliament,” Shafee said during his submission this morning. 

Shafee pointed to previous instances whereby a court granted “blanket” adjourments of criminal trials to DAP lawwmaker Karpal Singh and PKR president Anwar Ibrahim so that they could attend parliament. 

He added that prosecutors from the Attorney-General’s Chambers did not object on those in cases. Shafee added that the court also allowed his application to adjourn a hearing when he was a commissioner with the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam), so that he may attend a meeting. 

He also cited Section 9 of the House of Parliament (Privileges and Powers) Act 1952, whereby it is contempt of parliament to prevent a lawmaker from attending a session. 

Attorney-General Tommy Thomas, who led the prosecution, cited Article 8 of the constitution, which states that every person is equal under the law. 

“When the accused is in court facing a charge, the law must be treated the same, like the blindfold of the lady holding the scales of justice. There is no different treatment for the member of parliament and other people,” said Thomas, further contending that voting take places after 5pm. 

“Just because you have to vote in Parliament, then ‘I don’t have to sit in court.’ That’s just not the way,” he said, adding the trial only has 20 days of hearings this month.

“With the greatest of respect, we have to give respect for the time given (for this trial). Otherwise, members of the public would ask why is this trial being treated differently. There must be discipline.”

The trial then continued with the prosecution’s 42nd witness, former SRC International non-executive director Suboh Md Yassin taking to the stand. 

Najib’s charges are linked to RM4 billion in loans issued to SRC International in 2011 and 2012, for which he is accused of receiving RM42 million in his personal accounts in 2014 and 2015.

He faces three counts of criminal breach of trust, three counts of money-laundering and one count of abuse of power. – July 1, 2019.