The lawyer for the former prime minister said the appeal involved complex issues of law which are considered novel in the Commonwealth.
“The appellant (Najib) requires advice and expertise from an experienced QC,” he said in a letter addressed to Chief Justice Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat which was sighted by FMT.
He said Najib required time after receiving the appeal records, to supply them to the QC in London.
“With the exception of written judgments from the two courts (High Court and Court of Appeal) which were written in English, many of the notes and documents are in Malay, requiring some of the critical ones to be translated into English to physically brief the QC,” he said.
Shafee said fixing an early date to hear the appeal is, therefore, greatly prejudicial to Najib, especially with this being his final appeal.
“The appellant should be given ample time to prepare instead of being rushed into it.
“The appellant feels his appeal is being rushed into for no good reason. Perception is very important to the image of the judiciary,” Shafee added.
During a case management to fix appeal hearing dates to adduce additional evidence and the appeal to quash the conviction, Shafee informed the Federal Court deputy registrar Siti Hajar Mustaffa yesterday that his client intends to obtain the services of a QC.
Shafee said he would write officially today to express why Najib needed a foreign legal expertise.
A QC, said to be a specialist in a specific area of law, can only appear in a Malaysian court on an ad hoc basis after getting admission.
The Malaysian Bar and the Attorney-General’s Chambers could support or oppose should Najib make such an application.
No dates have been fixed to hear the appeal proper due to the proposal to bring the foreign counsel.
Another case management will be held on Friday to determine the next step for the appeal.
However, Siti Hajar fixed March 15 and 16 to hear Najib’s appeal to adduce additional evidence in the SRC appeal.
On Dec 7 last year, the Court of Appeal dismissed Najib’s application to adduce fresh evidence in his appeal.
The next day, the same court upheld the conviction and 12 years’ jail term and RM210 million fine on Najib for abuse of power, money laundering and misappropriating RM42 million in SRC funds.
Judge Abdul Karim Abdul Jalil, who led a three-member bench, said trial judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali did not misdirect himself for an appellate intervention.