Shafee Abdullah told the High Court that the prosecution had also filed several other criminal charges against the former prime minister since 2018, which he had fought.
“The prosecution has carpet bombed us, and Najib has had to appear in court every week over the past years. We, too, are suffering as we have to meet him in prison,” he added.
Najib has been in jail since Aug 23, 2022, when the Federal Court affirmed his prison sentence in the SRC International case which has since been reduced from 12 to six years.
He was charged with abuse of power, CBT, and money laundering in the now-concluded SRC case as well as the ongoing 1MDB trial.
He was also charged with money laundering in the RM27 million SRC case which is scheduled for trial on April 21 next year.
The lawyer said that in the current case, the prosecution had said it was not their fault for failing to obtain declassified documents from several ministries.
“We have been asking the prosecution to hand over the documents for a long time. But why did you charge my client when you were not ready?” he asked.
The lawyer was submitting before Justice Jamil Hussin in a bid to obtain a discharge not amounting to an acquittal (DNAA) for Najib.
Najib and former Treasury secretary-general Irwan Serigar Abdullah were jointly charged with six counts of misappropriating public funds intended for payment to IPIC, an Abu Dhabi-owned corporation.
The duo had previously sought a DNAA but Jamil refused their applications twice.
Deputy public prosecutor Saifuddin Hashim Musaimi said today that the prosecution had yet to obtain declassified documents under the Official Secrets Act from several ministries, but that they were ready to proceed with the trial.
However, the defence objected as Section 62 of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Act 2009 states that accused persons must disclose their defence statements to the prosecution before the beginning of trial.
They asked for a DNAA, meaning that the prosecution could commence the trial once they were ready.
Shafee submitted that a trial judge in the High Court had the inherent jurisdiction to issue a DNAA without an application by the prosecution.
“This case started six years ago and this trial will take two years based on the number of witnesses and documents,” he said, adding that the current state of affairs was an abuse of process and oppressive towards Najib.
Lawyer K Kumaraendran, appearing for Irwan, submitted that he was perplexed about how the prosecution could begin their case when it was revealed today that they did not possess documents relating to the first two charges faced by his client.
“My client is a senior citizen and will not abscond. This case has mentally stressed him out.
“The prosecution has wasted precious judicial time. My client has been prejudiced as he will not get a fair trial,” he added.
Jamil adjourned the case to Wednesday to give the prosecution time to research whether the court could order a DNAA without an application from them.