FORMER Prime Minister Najib Razak was not given a fair trial in the RM42 million SRC International case, his lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah said, citing the concealment of crucial evidence relating to the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) scandal.

Shafee said Najib was played out by several individuals, including the prosecution in the case, and he claimed that some of the crucial evidence was concealed, leaving the former premier in the dark and denying him a fair trial.

Citing a recent report by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) confirming that RM65million of 1MDB-linked funds were recovered from a company controlled by Tawfiq Ayman, the husband of former Bank Negara Malaysia governor Zeti Akhtar Aziz, Shafee said his team is seeking the court’s approval to admit documents related to the recovery as evidence, as well as to question new witnesses in the case.

“We have filed a notice of motion in the Court of Appeal, supported by an affidavit by Najib, to adduce further evidence and materials we have discovered recently.

“For the last three years, various authorities, investigators and also the prosecution have been claiming that they do not have such evidence, keeping it away from us,” Shafee said at a press conference today.

He said the defence was not given all the information and documents as per section 51A of the Criminal Procedure Code.

Shafee said Zeti and former SRC International CEO Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil had a big role in the SRC International scandal.

Shafee, who is Najib’s lead counsel in both the SRC International and 1MDB trials, said Zeti and former Attorney-General Tommy Thomas had known about such evidence but did not disclose the facts.

“We were always blocked from such information and it was kept concealed.

“On November 19, MACC made the announcement of the recovery of the assets linked to 1MDB. Later, it was confirmed by the law minister Wan Junaidi (Tuanku Jaafar) and on November 24, that Tommy admitted to having knowledge of the role of Zeti but he never told us.

“What kind of trial did my client have? He went into a boxing match with one hand tied behind his back. He was not given a fair trial by the constitution of Malaysia,” Shafee said.

Shafee said had the defence team known about it earlier, it would have used the evidence to prove his client was innocent.

He said that besides Zeti’s family, who received funds from Low Taek Jho (Jho Low), the man behind the 1MDB scandal, Nik Faisal also had benefited from the fugitive.

Shafee said trial judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali, in delivering the decision in July last year, had said that Nik Faisal did not benefit from the scandal, and thus sentenced Najib to 12 years jail and a fine of RM210 million.

The defence lawyer said the funds recovered by MACC proved otherwise.

“The press release by MACC on November 19 also outlined that as part of the recovery of the 1MDB fund, on November 12, 2021 the Commercial Affairs Department of Singapore had repatriated US$864,813.27 (about RM3.65 million) belonging to Nik Faisal.

“This is so far as we know. How much more, we are not sure. Therefore, there is now proof that Nik Faisal personally benefited from the funds of 1MDB.

“During the trial, we were not aware of it. Otherwise, we could have used this evidence to show this was how systematically my client was misled by SRC, the management team, who were working hand-in-hand with Jho Low.

“Now that he (Nazlan) knows the truth, this evidence in relation to Zeti, (that) the entire family benefitted millions of US dollars and now we have Nik Faisal benefitting from Jho Low, this finding could be crucial,” Shafee said.

The Court of Appeal is set to deliver its decision on the SRC International case on December 8.

Asked why they had only filed the motion recently, Shafee said that the defence only came to know about the matter after MACC had revealed its report on the recovery of the funds.

Shafee added that his team would seek an urgent hearing on the motion to facilitate the matter. – December 2, 2021.