KUALA LUMPUR: Just when everyone thought that Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s trial will finally begin, he filed another application that may delay the proceedings.
The former prime minister, who was supposed to enter the dock tomorrow to answer seven criminal breach of trust (CBT), abuse of power and money laundering charges, has asked the Federal Court to review its decision for the trial to proceed.
Counsel Harvinderjit Singh, who represented Najib, said the application for the review was filed at the Federal Court yesterday.
“We have filed a review application of the Federal Court’s decision lifting the stay order of the trial this morning,” he told High Court judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah yesterday during the mention of Najib’s corruption case involving RM2.28 billion of 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) funds.
Harvinderjit, however, said no date had been fixed for the hearing of the review application.
Najib’s case involving the abuse of SRC International Sdn Bhd funds was scheduled to begin before High Court judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali at 2pm tomorrow.
It was reported that the Federal Court’s seven-member bench led by Chief Justice Tan Sri Richard Malanjum had, on March 27, lifted a stay granted by the Court of Appeal on grounds that the appellate court had no jurisdiction to do so when a decision in a criminal matter had been made.
The much-anticipated, high-profile trial was set to begin eight months after Najib first claimed trial. Initially, the trial, which had drawn international attention, was fixed from Feb 12 to March 29 but was delayed twice after the Court of Appeal granted a stay of proceedings pending related appeals.
Scores of journalists and photographers from local and international press agencies are set to gather at the courthouse here to cover the first day of Najib’s trial.
His supporters are also expected to turn up to show solidarity with the former Umno leader.
The proceedings are set to begin with an opening statement, which is an outline of the evidence and facts the prosecution will try to prove.
It will be read out by Attorney-General (A-G) Tommy Thomas as the lead prosecutor in the case.
The prosecution had prepared 63 witnesses, some of whom are government officials.
Thirty-five volumes of documents comprising more than 3,000 pages have been submitted to the defence by the prosecution, which included SRC International’s meeting minutes.
The prosecution team comprises top criminal lawyers, including former Bar Council president Datuk Sulaiman Abdullah and Datuk V. Sithambaram, who is co-chairman of the Malaysian Bar Criminal Law Committee.
Thomas will also be assisted by deputy public prosecutors Manoj Kurup, Ishak Mohd Yusoff, Datuk Suhaimi Ibrahim, Donald Joseph Franklin, Muhammad Saifuddin Hashim Musaimi, Budiman Lutfi Mohamed, Sulaiman Kho Kheng Fuei, Mohd Ashrof Adrin Kamarul and Muhammad Izzat Fauzan.
Najib’s defence team will be led by Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, who was the deputy public prosecutor in Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s second sodomy appeal.
He is assisted by Harvinderjit, Farhan Read, Rahmat Hazlan, Muhammad Farhan Muhammad Shafee, Syahirah Hanapiah and Wan Aizuddin Wan Mohammed.
Court officials will issue 25 passes for local and foreign reporters in the courtroom and 20 passes for reporters in a video-link room on the fifth floor of the court complex.