Sitting together with Tengku Maimun are Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Abang Iskandar Abang Hashim, and judges Nallini Pathmanathan, Mary Lim and Mohamad Zabidin Diah.
The appeal was scheduled for this morning after the same panel heard and dismissed Najib’s motion for leave to adduce fresh evidence in an attempt to show that judge Nazlan Ghazali should not have presided over the trial due to a conflict of interests. It is set to run until Aug 26.
Upon dismissal of the motion on Tuesday, Najib’s lead counsel, Hisyam Teh Poh Teik, sought an adjournment of the appeal. He said Najib’s newly-assembled defence team, appointed on July 25, would require more time to prepare for the hearing. The application was refused by the apex court.
Speaking to the press at the end of proceedings that day, Hisyam expressed his “terrible disappointment” with the apex court’s refusal to postpone the case, claiming that his request was fair and reasonable given the circumstances. The defence team would need to give “serious consideration” to its next course of action, he said.
It is believed that may include another plea for an adjournment to be made this morning.
Two previous pleas – one made by letter to the apex court from Najib’s new solicitors, Zaid Ibrahim Suflan TH Liew & Partners, on July 26, and another made by Hisyam at case management three days later – have been unsuccessful.
Najib was previously represented by Shafee & Co, with senior lawyer Shafee Abdullah as lead counsel.
Faced with seven charges of abuse of power, money laundering and criminal breach of trust over SRC funds amounting to RM42 million, Najib’s trial saw 86 witnesses testify over 76 hearing days.
On July 28, 2020, he was convicted on all charges and sentenced to 12 years’ imprisonment and a fine of RM210 million, the grounds for which were set out by Nazlan in a massive 500 plus-page written judgment.
If upheld, Najib will be made to immediately serve his jail sentence and will automatically lose his long-held parliamentary seat in Pekan.
His conviction and sentence were upheld by the Court of Appeal on Dec 8 last year after a hearing which lasted 15 days and gave rise to another 317-page judgment.
Najib’s legal team also includes lawyers Zaid Ibrahim, Liew Teck Huat and Ruben Mathiavarnam.
Lawyer V Sithambaram, who is prosecuting under a special licence issued by the attorney-general, is assisted by Donald Joseph Franklin, Sulaiman Kho Kheng Fuei and Mohd Ashrof Adrin Kamil.