THE prosecution in former Prime Minister Najib Razak’s SRC International Sdn Bhd case claimed that the allegations by the former premier against the trial judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali, was a desperate attempt to nullify the trial.

Deputy public prosecutor Mohd Ashrof Adrin Kamarul, in a reply to Najib’s supporting affidavit in his application to obtain a declaration that the SRC International trial is null and void and to request a retrial, said the issue on the conflict of interest involving the judge, who previously held a position in Maybank Bhd, could have been raised during the trial.

Instead, the former prime minister chose not to do so because the issue was invalid, he added.

Nazlan, who was then High Court judge and now a Court of Appeal judge, sentenced Najib to 12 years in prison and fined him RM210 million after finding him guilty on seven counts of misappropriating RM42 million in SRC International funds.

Touching on Najib’s statement regarding the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission’s (MACC) investigation into Nazlan, Ashrof said that it is aimed at defaming Nazlan’s reputation as the trial judge. 

“Najib’s alleged personal knowledge of the MACC investigation is untrue because the MACC, as an independent enforcement agency, will not disclose confidential information regarding the ongoing investigation,” he added.

Ashrof said there was no conflict of interest when Nazlan sat as the trial judge for the SRC International case, and that Najib himself had even said there was no allegation of corruption against the judge.

He said the allegation on conflict of interest due to Nazlan’s capacity as the chief counsel and company secretary of the Maybank Group in a RM140 million loan to Puncak Perdana Sdn Bhd and RM4.17 billion to 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) could not be proven.

“In any case, the allegation is irrelevant to the charges faced by the applicant (Najib) in this appeal. The real purpose (of the document regarding the alleged conflict of interest) was presented, which is a worthless document, is to discredit Nazlan,” he said.

On December 8 last year, a three-member Court of Appeal panel led by Abdul Karim Abdul Jalil dismissed the Pekan MP’s appeal, which prompted him to take the matter to the Federal Court.

The Federal Court set 10 days beginning August 15 to hear Najib’s final appeal against the conviction, prison sentence and fine imposed on him by the High Court. – Bernama, July 21, 2022.