THE Federal Court today allowed Najib Razak’s SRC International corruption case review to be postponed to next month.

Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Abdul Rahman Sebli, who led the five-man bench, gave the nod in proceedings today.

Najib’s lead counsel, Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, had requested that proceedings be postponed to February 20-22.

Shafee had sought the adjournment on the grounds that he needed more time to make oral submissions on Chief Justice Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat, who denied an application by Najib’s legal team to adjourn the SRC trial hearing.

He told the apex court that during the SRC appeal, the Federal Court had not given proper time to Najib’s new lawyer, Hisyam Teh Poh Teik, to prepare.

This was after Najib decided to terminate Shafee’s service.

On August 18 last year, Hisyam had again sought adjournment on the grounds that he needed reasonable time to prepare full arguments for the appeal.

Shafee said the Federal Court panel once again rejected the postponement application, which left Hisyam with no choice but to withdraw from representing Najib.

“The Federal Court should know that no lawyer can read through bundles and bundles of documents in a short time. Even four months would not be sufficient,” he said.

Shafee said the SRC trial was “one of the most complicated commercial crime cases” he has ever handled, and that Hisyam had needed adequate time to prepare.

“For us, we live, breathe and sleep on SRC, having dealt with the case from the start,” he said. 

“If given two months, perhaps I could prepare for the final appeal as I have done most of the cross-examinations as well.

“But Hisyam could not have done that in that time. The volumes of documents he had to go through, he needed adequate time to prepare.”

This is the latest bid by Najib to overturn his guilty verdict, his 12-year jail sentence and RM210 million fine in a corruption case involving RM42 million of funds from SRC International. – January 19, 2023.