Justices Vernon Ong, Rhodzariah Bujang, Nordin Hassan and Abu Bakar Jais dismissed the former prime minister’s motion.
Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Abdul Rahman Sebli, who chaired the panel hearing the application, was the sole dissenting judge.
Delivering the majority verdict, Ong said the previous Federal Court panel had considered all the 94 grounds and the submissions filed in the lower courts before dismissing Najib’s appeal from his conviction for abuse of power, money laundering and criminal breach of trust (CBT).
He said the defence’s submissions ought to have addressed whether the application fulfilled the legal requirements to warrant a rehearing of the appeal. Instead, the submissions “touched on the merits of the SRC International case” itself.
Ong said that during the hearing held between Aug 15 and 23 last year, the appeal panel had given Najib’s then counsel, Hisyam Teh Poh Teik, the opportunity to present on any of the 94 grounds previously submitted. Hisyam, however, told the court he did not intend to do so.
“Based on the notes of the proceedings, the opportunity was given but (Hisyam) said he was relying on submissions from the lower courts.
“We do not think that he (Najib) was denied a fair trial. There was no miscarriage of justice,” Ong said.
With regard to the bid to review Chief Justice Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat’s refusal to recuse herself from hearing the appeal, Ong said that Najib had failed to show how her participation would give rise to a real danger of bias.
Najib wanted to recuse Tengku Maimun last year on grounds that her husband, Zamani Ibrahim, had expressed “negative sentiments” towards his leadership in a Facebook post following the 14th general election (GE14).
Ong said the remaining four judges on the appeal panel – Court of Appeal president Abang Iskandar Abang Hashim, Chief Judge of Malaya Zabidin Mohamad Diah, and Justices Nallini Pathmanathan and Mary Lim – were all in agreement that the Chief Justice need not recuse herself.
Likewise, Ong said Najib also failed to show how the evidence relating to trial judge Nazlan Ghazali’s previous employment with Maybank was relevant to the seven charges.
“The arguments by the applicant (Najib) are untenable, thus there is no merit for a review of that decision,” he added.
As a result of the decision, the former prime minister will continue to serve the remainder of his 12-year prison term, unless he secures a royal pardon from the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.
The five-member bench had heard submissions from both Najib’s defence team and the prosecution over six days between Jan 19 and Feb 28.
On July 28, 2020, Najib was convicted by Nazlan, then a High Court judge, for abuse of power, money laundering and criminal breach of trust (CBT) over SRC funds amounting to RM42 million.
He was sentenced to 12 years in jail and fined RM210 million.
His appeal to the Court of Appeal was dismissed on Dec 8, 2021.
Najib began his 12-year prison term on Aug 23, 2022, immediately after the Federal Court upheld the original conviction and sentence.
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