THREE Court of Appeal judges and a High Court judge were now certain that convicted former prime minister Najib Razak is guilty of his offences in the SRC International Sdn Bhd case, lead prosecutor V. Sithambaram said. 

He told the reporters at the Court of Appeal today that the four judges were convinced with the evidence adduced by the prosecution. 

Sithambaram said despite that, it is unknown if the Federal Court would continue to uphold the verdict on all seven charges against Najib. 

He said that the public could expect to know the results in six to nine months. 

“As lawyers, we know that anything can happen in court,” he said. 

“The defence’s argument so far has failed, so whether they can change the mind of another three or five judges is unknown.  

“But as of now, the four judges are quite clear in their mind from the judgment they read that the offenses were proven in crystal clear manner, there is no doubt about it.” 

In July last year, Kuala Lumpur High Court judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali found Najib guilty of seven charges of money-laundering, criminal breach of trust and abuse of power. 

The 68-year-old Pekan MP was sentenced to 12 years’ jail and fined RM210 million.

Today, Court of Appeal judge Abdul Karim Abdul Jalil, leading a three-man panel alongside Has Zanah Mehat and Vazeer Alam Mydin Meera, unanimously agreed with the trial judge’s verdict. 

During the appeal hearing, Najib’s lead lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah trained his guns on Nazlan, saying he was “hopelessly incompetent” and had cast “poisonous” judgment towards Najib. 

“Today’s finding completely exonerates Nazlan of any wrongdoing, in the way he dealt with the evidence, in the way he arrived at his decision and the sentence he passed.  

“They held that he was totally right in his conclusion and there was nothing wrong that he had done in his judgment,” Sithambaram said. 

Najib filed an appeal at the Federal Court today. He is currently on stay of execution with the same terms given by the High Court. 

He is on bail of RM2 million in two sureties and has to report to the nearest police station twice in a month. – December 8, 2021.