JAILED former prime minister Najib Razak was deprived of a fair trial and should have been acquitted and discharged, Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Abdul Rahman Sebli said today. 

Rahman, who was also the panel chair, was the only member of the five-member bench to give a dissenting judgment today in Najib’s application to review the Federal Court’s decision to reject his final appeal in the SRC International case.

“For the consequential order to be made, the proper order in my view would be the order of acquittal and discharge of all the offences. 

“It appears to me there is a miscarriage of justice and the applicant is deprived of a fair hearing,” Rahman said today. 

Earlier today, the Apex Court in a 4-1 majority decision rejected Najib’s application to review its decision to uphold the guilty verdict, sentence and fine against him.

Judge Vernon Ong said there was no miscarriage of justice in the apex court’s hearing of Najib’s appeal last year.

Rahman said it was unfair that Najib had to the price for the mistakes of his counsel.

He said that Hisyam Teh Poh Teik was denied the opportunity to discharge himself from representing Najib, despite making the application during the course of the appeal. 

Rahman said this led to only the prosecution making the submission, thus Najib was deprived of a fair trial.

“The (defence) counsel did not submit as he had informed the panel of judges that he was unprepared to do so. 

“This led to only one party submitting before the earlier five-member panel, which was deputy public prosecutor V. Sithambaram. 

“The applicant (Najib) was not heard at all. The applicant was at a great and substantial injustice. He was in a disadvantaged state, as he was not represented during the appeal. 

“It is unfair that the applicant to pay the highest price for the mistakes of his counsel.

“The applicant’s only interest was to see his lawyer act for him in his best interests, nothing more and nothing less,” Rahman said.

Three weeks prior to his final appeal, Najib dropped senior lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah and replaced him with Messrs Hisyam Teh and Zaid Ibrahim Suflan TH Liew and Partners. 

Najib abruptly fired Messrs Zaid Ibrahim Suflan TH Liew & Partners at the 11th hour, leaving only Hisyam to act as lead counsel. 

However, Najib suffered another setback during the appeal when Hisyam applied to discharge himself from representing the former prime minister but the Federal Court barred the request. 

Rahman said the previous bench led by Chief Justice Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat should have allowed Najib to address the panel before the prosecution made its submissions, despite the fact that he was not represented.

“This did not happen. The prosecution was allowed to submit for two full days. It was surreal. The conviction should have been quashed as Najib had no legal representation, he said. 

Rahman said an adjournment should have been granted, not to scuttle the case, but to allow Najib time to find a new counsel.

“The applicant has the right to effective counsel.”

Rahman disagreed with the previous panel’s assertion it had given Najib’s counsel four months to prepare for the trial. 

“This was not true. The four months were for Messrs Shafee and Co, who were Najib’s previous counsel. 

“Messrs Shafee and Co were not the applicant’s new counsel. Hence, the application for review for the adjournment must be granted,” Rahman said. – March 31, 2023.