Judicial Commissioner Ab Karim Ab Rahman also sentenced Koong to 18 years jail for the attempted murder of Najadi’s widow, Cheong Mei Kuen.
He said the defence failed to raise a reasonable doubt in the prosecution’s case.
“The defence story is a concoction and inherently improbable,” Ab Karim said in his oral verdict.
Koong, wearing a white singlet and black pants, was calm when the judge imposed the sentence.
Ab Karim said Koong had apportioned blame on taxi driver Chew Siang Chee for the crimes but surprisingly fled from the scene in the same vehicle.
He also pointed out that Koong could have lodged a police report if he was innocent.
“Even after his arrest, he did not offer assistance to the police during investigation,” he said.
Ab Karim said the prosecution’s case was strengthened as Cheong and another witness positively identified Koong being at the crime scene while forensic evidence showed a firearm was used to shoot at close range.
Nicknamed “sei ngan chai” (bespectacled), Koong had been convicted of the same offences and received the same sentences in a trial before High Court judge Justice Mohd Azman Husin on Sept 5, 2014.
However, on Dec 14 last year, the Federal Court set aside the conviction and ordered the case to be retried in the High Court.
The apex court ruled that Justice Azman could have been prejudiced since he had heard and dismissed Chew’s appeal in August 2014. Chew was said to have driven Koong away after the shooting.
Chew was convicted and sentenced to 10 years in jail on two charges by the Sessions Court for possessing a pistol and live bullets. However, he was acquitted by the Court of Appeal in 2015.
Koong was accused of murdering Najadi, 75, at the parking lot of the Kuan Yin temple in Lorong Ceylon here between 1.30pm and 2pm on July 29, 2013.
He was charged under Section 302 of the Penal Code, which carries the mandatory death sentence upon conviction.
The second charge of attempting to murder Cheong and causing her injury was framed under Section 307 of the Penal Code, which provides a jail term of up to 20 years on conviction.
Najadi, whose Arab-Malaysian Development Bank was the predecessor of Ambank, was shot twice in the chest while Cheong was hit on the left hand and right leg as they emerged from the temple.
Cheong, in her witness impact statement, said the incident changed her life forever as she was confined to her modest home and forced to re-live the horror of the heinous crimes.
“Today, in front of my eyes, sits the killer who shot and killed my husband.
“My husband was shot many times and the last bullet pierced into his heart and ruptured it, ending his life,” Cheong sobbed as she read a statement.
Cheong said she lost a lot of blood, sustained severe injuries, loss of capabilities and movement, depression and poor visibility as a result of the incident.
The prosecution was conducted by Wan Shahrudidin Wan Ladin, Mohd Hamzah Ismail and Siti Aisyah Ahmad while Michael K L Chee represented the accused.