THE Federal Court has rejected Najib Razak’s application to adduce fresh evidence in his RM42 million SRC International Sdn Bhd corruption case.

Chief Justice Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat said the defence had failed to show the relevance of the new evidence against the former prime minister’s charges. 

“It is not as if justice Nazlan’s (Mohd Nazlan Ghazali) previous role was a secret that his subsequent involvement came as a surprise. 

“We also find no nexus of justice Nazlan’s previous employment with the bank and charges against the applicant as to suggest a conflict of interest.”

“All motions have been dismissed,” she said when delivering the judgment of the five-member bench. 

The other judges on the bench are Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Abang Iskandar Abang Hashim and Federal Court judges Nallini Pathmanathan, Mary Lim and Zabidin Mohd Diah.

The additional evidence Najib sought to adduce relates to the recent discovery that the SRC International trial judge (Nazlan) in 2006 was general counsel and company secretary for Maybank Group, and had the ultimate overall responsibility for the management and administration of all legal departments within the entire group.

On July 28, 2020, then High Court judge Nazlan sentenced Najib to 10 years’ jail on each of his three counts of criminal breach of trust and each of his three counts of money laundering, and 12 years’ jail and a RM210 million fine, in default five years’ jail, in the case of abuse of position.

However, Najib would have to serve only 12 years in jail as the judge ordered all the jail sentences to run concurrently.

Najib, 69, is represented by lawyer Hisyam Teh Poh Teik, Zaid Ibrahim, Liew Teck Huat and M. Rueben, while the prosecution is led by ad hoc prosecutor V. Sithambaram, who is assisted by deputy public prosecutors Donald Joseph Franklin, Sulaiman Kho Kheng Fuei, Mohd Ashrof Adrin Kamarul and Manjira Vasudevan. – August 16, 2022.