THE Federal Court today rejected Najib Razak’s application to review its guilty verdict and sentence and fine for corruption.

The judges dismissed the application by a 4-1 majority.

Judge Vernon Ong said there was no miscarriage of justice in the Federal Court’s hearing of Najib’s appeal in the RM42 million SRC International case last year.

He said Chief Justice Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat was right not to recuse herself from hearing Najib’s final appeal.

“There is no merit in the argument that the previous bench chaired by the chief justice had erred in barring Najib’s then counsel Hisyam Teh Poh Teik from discharging himself during the SRC appeal hearing last year,” he said.

The dissenting judgment was read out by the panel chair, Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Abdul Rahman Sebli.

With the dismissal of the application, Najib has exhausted all avenues for appeal against his conviction.

On August 23 last year, a Federal Court panel chaired by Tengku Maimun dismissed Najib’s appeal to set aside his guilty verdict, 12-year jail sentence and RM210 million fine.

Ong said the decision was made after considering the submissions and evidence presented in the trial and appeal.

”Having considered all the records, the court finds that all earlier convictions against the applicant are safe and that the sentences imposed against applicant are not excessive, and therefore affirmed. 

“While the applicant feels that there was a breach of natural justice and an abuse of court process in the court’s decision to uphold the applicant’s guilty verdict last year may be genuine, this cannot dictate the conclusion made by the panel hearing his review application. 

“In this respect, we are constrained to say that the applicant is the author of his own misfortune,” Ong said. 

Najib’s lead counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah had argued that a review of the case was warranted after the court that heard his client’s appeal had made a fundamental error in law by not allowing the adjournment of the trial and then not allowing Najib’s then-counsel Hisyam to be discharged from duty.

On July 28, 2020, High Court judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali sentenced Najib to 10 years’ jail on each of three counts of criminal breach of trust and each of three counts of money-laundering, and 12 years’ jail and RM210 million fine, in default of five years’ jail, for power abuse.

On December 8, 2021, the appellate upheld the High Court decision and dismissed Najib’s appeal to set aside his conviction and jail sentence and fine. – March 31, 2023.