KUALA LUMPUR: Datuk Seri Najib Razak has filed an application pleading for the Court of Appeal (COA) to hear new evidence before deciding the appeal on Dec 8
The appeal is against his conviction, fine and jail sentence for misappropriating RM42 million of SRC International Sdn Bhd funds.
His lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah said the application was filed yesterday, before going on to apologise for the last minute nature of developments concerning the case.
"I am not maneuvering to delay the deliverance of the COA judgment. We note that the application comes at a time where the SRC appeal decision is just days away.
"However, the very nature of recent revelations by key agencies and personalities such as the former Attorney General (Tan Sri Tommy Thomas) has created a situation that cannot be left ignored or unanswered in defence of my client in all the charges against him.
"In order to prevent any delay towards the judicial process, we will be seeking for an urgent hearing on our motion," he said at a press conference in his office at Bukit Tunku here today.
Shafee said the defence hoped to call Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) chief Datuk Seri Azam Baki and MACC investigating officer Rosli Hussein to provide further evidence in relation to former Bank Negara Governor Tan Sri Zeti Akhtar Aziz's role in the 1Malaysia Development Bhd scandal and her relationship with fugitive financier Low Taek Jho @ Jho Low.
Shafee said additional evidence adduced from the witnesses would be necessary in the interest of justice for his client.
Najib claimed that such information was not available or could not be obtained during his SRC trial at the High Court and when the Court of Appeal previously heard the appeal.
Referring to recent statements issued by the MACC on the recovery of assets linked to 1MDB from Singapore connected to Zeti's husband, and also former SRC International chief executive Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil, Shafee said even Tommy Thomas had admitted knowledge of investigations concerning Zeti's role in facilitating Jho Low's shenanigans.
Shafee claimed the information recently disclosed was of material relevance to his client's defence and appeared to have been suppressed from the defence.
"Considering the recent revelations, there is a real danger that the investigations which took place by the 1MDB task force were either incomplete or catered in such a way to place blame on my client while hiding the involvement of other personalities.
"This raises the question whether the evidence provided to my client at his trial was incomplete or in fact, filtered.
"Such concealment of evidence and failure to complete investigations on key actors in the SRC chain of events means that Najib would have been prematurely charged and deprived of a full and complete trial," he said.
Meanwhile, when asked why the defence did not call Zeti to the stand even though she was offered as a witness during the SRC trial, Shafee said this was because they did not know what she would have said as the defence did not have her statements.
"You don't call a witness when you don't know what he or she is going to say.
"Look, my client literally went to a boxing match with one hand tied behind his back. We have said all the while that my client never received a fair trial."
The COA has fixed Dec 8 to decide on Najib's appeal.
The High Court convicted Najib over all the seven charges of criminal breach of trust, power abuse, money laundering, in relation to SRC International's RM42 million.
He was subsequently sentenced to 12 years jail and fined RM210 million after being found guilty of all charges.