Judge ticks off Najib’s defence, says ‘get to the main point’ after SRC appeal extended again

PUTRAJAYA (April 28): Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s defence failed to complete their submissions in the allotted two additional days in the SRC International Sdn Bhd case this week, resulting in the appeal hearing being extended by another day next week.

The appeal was supposed to end today, but Najib's defence team could not conclude their reply to the prosecution's case.

The court had initially allocated 12 days on April 5-8, April 12-15 and April 19-22 for the hearing, with the defence and prosecution given four days each to make submissions.

However, the defence took six days to make their submissions, which led to the court granting the prosecution another two days to submit, causing the hearing to be extended to yesterday and today.

Defence counsel Harvinderjit Singh, who was submitting on the greater part of today, hesitantly admitted to the Court of Appeal bench this afternoon that he was unable to finish and would like one more day to conclude his submissions.

"I still need to cover CBT (Criminal Breach of Trust) and lead counsel Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah has to deal with the Arab donation issue,” said the lawyer.

Justice Datuk Abdul Karim Abdul Jalil, who is leading the three-member bench retorted that Harvinderjit should have touched on the main points, as the panel was well-versed already and to stop being repetitive.

“Can you get to the main point?

“Please get to the central heart of the issue and reply to the prosecution's submissions. Like this, you are only reading but not informing us which charges you are addressing. Otherwise we will get 'bercelaru' (mixed up)," Abdul Karim said.

Besides Abdul Karim, the other members of the bench were Justices Datuk Has Zanah Mehat and Datuk Vazeer Alam Mydin Meera.

After giving the lawyers a tongue-lashing before the end of the day, the bench allowed Najib's defence an additional day.

Abdul Karim said the appeal hearing started before the fasting month, and has continued into the middle of the holy month.

This led to ad hoc prosecutor Datuk V Sithambaram to interject, saying that if the bench did not control proceedings, the hearing may go on until Hari Raya Haji, which falls on July 19.

This is the second extension of the appeal hearing, resulting in an additional three days to be fixed for the hearing.

The unprecedented 15-day hearing to the “trial of the century” will continue and end on May 6, spilling over into the 1Malaysia Development Bhd trial presided by Justice Collin Lawrence Sequerah, scheduled from Monday to Thursday (May 3 to 6)

Najib has been sentenced to 12 years' jail and fined RM210 million, which he is currently appealing.

This comes after 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 and money laundering involving RM42 million.

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