JAILED former prime minister Najib Razak’s lawyer’s call for an adjournment during the SRC International trial was an attempt to delay proceedings, ad hoc prosecutor V. Sithambaram said. 

Najib’s lawyer Hisyam Teh Poh Teik had asked for an adjournment to prepare for the case.

Sithambaram said Najib’s lawyers were give four months to prepare for the case.

“Hisyam was also given six to eight weeks to prepare. So, how can he (Hisyam) come in and say they are not prepared and ask for an adjournment? 

“(They are) holding the court to ransom. Who is in the driver’s seat here?” Sithambaram said in the Federal Court today. 

Last year, Hisyam refused to argue the case because he had not been given enough time to prepare.

Sithambaram said it was up to the court to decide to grant an adjournment.

“There should always be a plan B. If they (Hisyam) didn’t get (the adjournment) they must be ready to submit, not caught with their pants down,” he said,

“They took it for granted that they will get adjournment. No one can give a guarantee like that to the appellant.

“(The court) invited Hisyam to present submissions but he refused. So we asked if he would rely on their written submissions and he said yes.”

Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Abdul Rahman Sebli, who is leading the five-man bench, said Hisyam should not have promised his client an adjournment. 

He asked Hisyam if he had threatened to recuse himself, leaving Najib without a lawyer, if the adjournment was not granted.

Najib had last year filed a motion to review the SRC ruling on grounds the court had breached the principles of natural justice, including his right to a fair trial and a lawyer.

He is also seeking to overturn his guilty verdict as well as his 12-year jail sentence and RM210 million fine for stealing RM42 million of SRC International’s funds. – February 22 2023.