SRC appeal: Defence concludes submissions after six days

PUTRAJAYA (April 13): The defence in Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s SRC International Sdn Bhd appeal hearing at the Court of Appeal concluded their submissions today after six days — three days longer than expected.

Lead counsel Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah (pictured) took the first two days when the appeal began on April 5, followed by Harvinderjit Singh and then lawyer Farhan Read continued from yesterday.

The defence was supposed to have ended their submissions on Thursday (April 8) in the 12-day appeal hearing set by the appellate court. However, due to the lengthy submissions, the three-member bench led by Justice Datuk Abdul Karim Abdul Jalil allowed the extension.

The other two bench members were Justices Datuk Has Zanah Mehat and Datuk Vazeer Alam Mydin Meera.

Justice Abdul Karim also had to, time and again, tell Harvinderjit and Farhan to shorten their submissions as they repeated what had been previously mentioned.

Ad hoc prosecutor Datuk V Sithambaram, who leads the prosecution along with DPPs Mohd Ashrof Adrin Kamarul, Donald Joseph Franklin and Sulaiman Koh Abdullah, now have the next four days to lay out its case to meet the initial appeal hearing time frame set by the court. The appeal is supposed to conclude on April 22.

Datuk Seri Najib Razak was sentenced to 12 years in jail and fined RM210 million, which he is currently appealing.

High Court judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali found Najib guilty of all seven charges linked to the SRC case, which included one for abuse of power involving Retirement Fund Inc’s (KWAP) RM4 billion loan to SRC, and three charges each of criminal breach of trust (CBT) and money laundering involving RM42 million.

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