NAJIB Razak’s lawyer, Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, was tight-lipped about a 45-minute meeting in chambers today with SRC International trial judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali.

The meeting was over an ex parte application to show cause for contempt proceedings against DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang and Malay Mail over a statement published on November 9 last year.

Shafee refused to reveal the outcome of the application.

“We are not allowed to disclose,” the lawyer told reporters at the Kuala Lumpur High Court.

“Zero disclosure. We can’t even tell you what it is about. What case. Nothing. Zero.”

A check with a court source revealed that a second case management date will be fixed after “proper court documentation” has been filed.

An ex parte application is made to a court without notifying or serving other parties of the proceedings.

This is the second meeting over the application, as the court has previously ordered Najib to refile papers in his bid to cite the DAP stalwart for contempt.  

Shafee previously told reporters on November 29 after meeting the same judge that the court had ordered for the show-cause papers to be “tweaked” as they have failed to meet requirements.

The November 9 article was entitled “Kit Siang: High court decision on Najib and Tanjung Piai by-election outcome will indicate where Malaysia headed towards”.

In his supporting affidavit, Najib had claimed that Lim was attempting to pressure the court to decide the outcome of the criminal trial involving the former prime minister.

“This sort of threat and intimidation, especially in an ongoing proceeding is obviously to divert the course of justice and, therefore, an interference in the judicial process.

“The article, when read as a whole, had amount to a serious contempt of court and also an unwarranted attack on the Malaysian judiciary,” Najib said.

The Pekan MP is facing three ongoing criminal trials. For the SRC International case, Najib is on trial for charges linked to RM4 billion in loans issued to SRC International in 2011 and 2012, of which he is accused of receiving RM42 million in 2014 and 2015.

He faces seven charges, of which three are for criminal breach of trust, one for abuse of power and three for money-laundering.

The SRC International trial resumes on Monday, where Najib will conclude his cross-examination.

Fifty-seven prosecution witnesses have testified. Najib is expected to call about a dozen witnesses for the defence stage. – January 30, 2020.