Najib to apply for royal pardon citing dissenting judgment in SRC case review
Published on: Monday, April 03, 2023
By: FMT
The Federal Court in a 4-1 decision dismissed Najib Razak’s application for a review of its decision to dismiss his appeal in the SRC International case.(Bernama pic)
PETALING JAYA: Najib Razak is seeking to use the dissenting judgment by Federal Court judge Abdul Rahman Sebli to support his application for a royal pardon, said his lawyer Shafee Abdullah.
Shafee said Rahman’s minority judgment has been included in the application for a royal pardon, which is being prepared.
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“Our pardon request is exactly what Rahman said in his judgment. The request for pardon is not because, ‘Oh, I did wrong, I’m sorry and therefore I throw myself upon your mercy’, no.
“This is not the pardon that is normally the case,” he said at a press conference at the Kuala Lumpur court complex today.
He said the request would state that the former prime minister did not receive a fair trial, adding that his case was not heard in the apex court and the prosecution was heard by the judges ex parte.
Shafee also said the majority judgment would be sent to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong for comparison, to see “which is the better judgment”.
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He added that the application for Najib’s pardon would be submitted within the week, as he claimed his team has yet to receive a copy of the majority’s written judgment.
On March 31, Rahman released a 78-page minority judgment, which stated that Najib had no legal representation when a Federal Court panel heard and dismissed his appeal in the SRC International corruption case.
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Rahman, who is the Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak, was a member of a five-panel Federal Court bench which heard Najib’s application for a review of the court’s decision to dismiss his appeal in the SRC case.
He said the refusal by the court to grant an adjournment of the main appeals “had defeated altogether (Najib’s) right to be represented by an effective counsel”.
The other four judges who heard the final appeal were Justices Vernon Ong, Rhodzariah Bujang, Nordin Hassan and Abu Bakar Jais.
Najib was convicted in July 2020 on charges of abuse of power, money laundering and criminal breach of trust over SRC funds amounting to RM42 million.
He was sentenced to 12 years’ jail and fined RM210 million. He began serving his prison term on Aug 23, 2022, after the Court of Appeal dismissed his appeal, followed by the Federal Court upholding the original conviction and sentence.
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