NAJIB Razak’s lawyers might as well take legal action against all Malaysians who had expressed disgust with the manner they handled the former prime minister’s final appeal last week, P. Ramasamy said today.

“Did they expect the concerned Malaysian public to sit through and tolerate how the judiciary was subjected to mockery and ridicule?” the Penang deputy chief minister said in a statement.

“Asking for the admission of new evidence followed by the permission to postpone the case and the attempt to withdraw Najib’s legal representation were anything but a total abuse of the judicial process by any normal standard of judgment.

“It was just not the Malaysian Bar that came out to voice out the various attempts to discredit the judiciary but also hundreds and thousands of right-thinking Malaysians took to the social media, Facebook and others to criticise the court drama of Najib and his lawyers.

“If Najib has such a grand standing among lawyers, maybe he should be initiating legal action against all those who took him and his lawyers to task.”

Ramasamy was referring to reports that Najib’s lawyers are mulling legal action against Malaysian Bar president Karen Cheah for criticising them for the abuse of the judicial process, unprofessional conduct and trying to subvert the dispensation of justice.

He said it is the duty of the Malaysian Bar to defend the judiciary when there are overt and covert attempts to subdue or compromise its role.

On Monday, it was reported that lawyer Zaid Ibrahim and two of his partners were mulling a legal action against Cheah over a recent press statement regarding their representation in Najib’s SRC International Sdn Bhd appeal at the Federal Court.

In a letter issued via the law firm, Zaid Ibrahim Suflan TH Liew & Partners, the trio demanded “a full and unequivocal retraction and apology” from Cheah by September 2 or she will face legal action.

They alleged that Cheah’s press release on August 19 was “a grave and serious libel”.

On August 19, Cheah, through the Malaysian Bar, had expressed her disgust with the manner the justice system was being abused and brought into disrepute in the SRC International appeal hearing.

She said the country had witnessed how the justice system had been abused and brought into disrepute through the frantic acts and numerous attempts to postpone Najib’s appeal hearing.

On July 25, Najib discharged Messrs Shafee & Co and took on Messrs Zaid Ibrahim Suflan TH Liew & Partners to represent him in his final appeal at the apex court.

In the run-up to and during the appeal, Najib’s counsel, Hisyam Teh Poh Teik, made numerous requests to postpone the trial but were rejected by the apex court.

Najib then discharged his newly appointed law firm as solicitors as well as Zaid, Liew and Rueben as co-counsel on August 18.

A similar request to discharge Teh as lead counsel was rejected by Chief Justice Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat.

Last week, the Federal Court unanimously upheld Najib’s guilty verdict and ordered him to begin his 12-year prison sentence immediately.

Najib will also have to pay a RM210 million fine, in default of which he will have to serve another five years in prison. – August 31, 2022.