KUALA LUMPUR: Datuk Seri Najib Razak will know tomorrow whether the Federal Court will allow his application for the court to review its own decision in upholding his conviction and sentence in the SRC International corruption case.
A five-member bench led by Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Datuk Abdul Rahman Sebli is expected to deliver the judgement after having heard lengthy submissions from both parties previously.
The other panelists are Federal Court judges Datuk Vernon Ong Lam Kiat, Datuk Rhodzariah Bujang, and Datuk Nordin Hassan as well as Court of Appeal judge Datuk Abu Bakar Jais.
Najib is seeking a review of the Federal Court's decision on Aug 23 last year, to affirm his conviction and sentence, which has seen him jailed 12-years and fined RM210 million.
Najib is also seeking a review of the Federal Court's decision to reject his application to adduce fresh evidence relating to the then High Court judge Datuk Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali.
His lead counsel Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah argued that Najib's previous solicitors from Messrs Zaid Ibrahim Suflan TH Liew & Partners (Zist) was incompetent in handling Najib's appeal at the Apex Court.
He argued that Zist did not have what it takes to represent a case of such magnitude which resulted Najib to be incarcerated in Kajang Prison.
Shafee also contended that his client was left unrepresented after his then counsel Datuk Hisyam Teh Poh Teik was not allowed to discharge himself by the panelists led by Tengku Maimun.
He said Najib did not have the opportunity to cite 94 grounds in his final appeal to back his arguments on how the lower court had erred in upholding his sentence and conviction.
Meanwhile, lead prosecutor Datuk V. Sithambaram argued that Najib has only himself to blame when he lost the plot during the final appeal.
He said Najib's then lead counsels were overly confident that their application for additional evidence and adjournment would be allowed by the Federal Court.
He said Zist chose to focus on the application for additional evidence only but not the said appeals.
He said Najib's team had treated the whole appeal complacently and expected that they would be entitled to an adjournment despite the clear instruction from the top court that the main appeals would proceed.
Sithambaram also contended that Najib's decision to change his entire legal team led to the disruption of his final appeal.
Najib, 70, was found guilty of abuse of power in relation to a RM4 billion loan given by Retirement Fund (Inc) (KWAP) to SRC between August 2011 and March 2012.
He was also convicted of criminal breach of trust and money laundering involving RM42 million of SRC funds between Dec 26, 2014 and Feb 10, 2015.