Deputy public prosecutor Ashrof Adrin Kamarul, in reply to Najib’s supporting affidavit in his application to obtain a declaration that the SRC trial was null and void and to request for a retrial, said the issue of conflict of interest involving the judge, who previously held a position in Maybank Bhd, could have been raised during the trial.
Instead, the former prime minister chose not to do so because the issue was invalid, he added.
Nazlan, who was High Court judge then and now a Court of Appeal judge, sentenced Najib to 12 years in prison and imposed a fine of RM210 million after finding him guilty on seven charges of misappropriating RM42 million in SRC funds.
On Najib’s statement regarding the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission’s (MACC) investigation into Nazlan, Ashrof said it was scandalous and aimed at defaming Nazlan’s reputation as a trial judge.
“Najib’s alleged personal knowledge of the MACC investigation is untrue because the MACC, as an independent enforcement agency, will not disclose confidential information regarding an ongoing investigation,” he added.
Ashrof said there was no conflict of interest when Nazlan sat as the trial judge for the SRC case, and that Najib himself had even said that there was no allegation of corruption against the judge.
He said the allegation on conflict of interest due to Nazlan’s capacity as the chief counsel and company secretary of the Maybank Group in the RM140 million loan to Puncak Perdana Sdn Bhd and RM4.17 billion loan to 1MDB could not be proven.
“In any case, the allegation is irrelevant to the charges faced by the applicant (Najib) in this appeal. The real purpose (of the document regarding the alleged conflict of interest) is to discredit Nazlan,” he said.
On Dec 8 last year, a three-judge panel of the Court of Appeal, led by Abdul Karim Abdul Jalil, dismissed the Pekan MP’s appeal, which prompted him to take the matter to the Federal Court.
The Federal Court set 10 days from Aug 15 to hear Najib’s final appeal against the conviction, the prison sentence and the fine imposed on him by the High Court.