KUALA LUMPUR: A dramatic day ended in disappointment for Datuk Seri Najib Razak after the Court of Appeal threw out his bid to introduce new evidence in his SRC International Sdn Bhd case before a decision on his appeal is announced tomorrow.
The former prime minister failed to convince three judges that he had anything new to bring to the table which would warrant them listening to additional evidence concerning his case apart from what had already been heard at the High Court.
In rejecting Najib's application, Judge Datuk Abdul Karim Abdul Jalil said Najib had failed to cumulatively satisfy the requirements of the law besides failing to show any exceptional circumstances on why his application should be allowed.
Abdul Karim noted that any new evidence Najib wanted to introduce must be evidence that was not available during trial, relevant, credible, and creates reasonable doubt in the prosecution's case.
"Under the circumstances, we find no exceptional circumstances were shown for the court to take additional evidence in the appeal.
"This application is therefore dismissed. Now the delivery of decision tomorrow will proceed as fixed at 9am," he said.
The other judges on the panel were Datuk Has Zanah Mehat and Datuk Vazeer Alam Mydin Meera. Abdul Karim later ruled that the decision would be announced via Zoom proceedings.
This was because Najib's lead counsel Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah said he and his client along with other members of the defence team were not allowed to enter the court premises due to them being identified as close contacts of a Covid-19 positive person.
Najib had filed a last minute application to introduce new evidence before the court decides on his appeal to set aside his conviction and sentence for misappropriating RM42 million of SRC money.
In his application, Najib said he wanted to call Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) chief Tan Sri Azam Baki and SRC investigating officer Rosli Hussein to provide new evidence on the case.
He said this was because the MACC had on Nov 19 confirmed that RM65 million in 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) linked funds were recovered from companies controlled by former Bank Negara Governor Tan Sri Zeti Akhtar Aziz and that gave her the motive to conceal information from him.
However, lead prosecutor Datuk V Sithambaram today countered that Najib was relying on mere conjecture and speculation to establish a so-called conspiracy to suppress evidence relating to the trial.
He said whatever 1MDB money linked to Zeti's family was transacted long before SRC was even established and therefore had nothing to do with the case.
The senior counsel also noted that Zeti had actually been offered to Najib as a defence witness during the SRC trial but she was never called to give evidence by the accused.
"They did not even bother to interview her," he said, adding that Zeti's evidence was at best only relevant to Najib's ongoing 1MDB trial and not the SRC appeal.