PUTRAJAYA: Datuk Seri Najib Razak is expected to file his second review application following the Federal Court's decision over his conviction and sentencing in the SRC International Bhd corruption case.
Najib's lead counsel, Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, said today's judgment was "not the end" for his client to seek justice in court.
Earlier, the top court dismissed Najib's application to review his conviction for misappropriating RM42 million of SRC International funds.
The bench, in a four-to-one decision, rejected Najib's appeal after ruling that he was actually the author of his own misfortune for the way his appeal hearings had gone.
Speaking at a press conference, Shafee said a dissented judgement by Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Datuk Abdul Rahman Sebli had provided the former prime minister further avenues to possibly initiate a new court action.
However, the senior lawyer declined to comment further on their next course of action.
"This is not the last avenue for my client. We still have another avenue, such as the royal pardon and the petition before the United Nations Human Rights Council's Working Group on Arbitrary Detention.
"It is important for the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to read the minority judgment, where the judge said my client did not have a fair trial in this case.
"We also will send the minority judgment to the the United Nations working group for review."
Shafee, on Jan 5, said Najib had filed a petition before the the United Nations Human Rights Council's Working Group on Arbitrary Detention to ask for a release or a retrial of his SRC International case.
He was asking the group's panel of five experts on international justice to rule that the dismissal of his appeal by the Federal Court on Aug 23 last year was unjust, flawed, and violated his basic human rights and the Federal Constitution.
Shafee further said he was glad with Abdul Rahman's lone dissenting judgment despite being disappointed with the majority judgment.
"(Abdul) Rahman's judgment stressed the importance of getting a fair trial and suggested that an injustice had taken place with regard to my client's case.
"Justice is not only about finding out if someone is guilty or not, but also about applying the process of giving the fairest of trials."
The other members of the bench were Federal Court judges Datuk Vernon Ong Lam Kiat, Datuk Rhodzariah Bujang and Datuk Nordin Hassan and Court of Appeal judge Datuk Abu Bakar Jais.
Najib, 70, had sought to review the Federal Court's own decision on Aug 23 last year. The court had then affirmed his conviction and sentence, which saw him jailed 12 years and fined RM210 million.
He was first found guilty by the Kuala Lumpur High Court on July 28, 2020, of three counts of criminal breach of trust and three counts of money laundering of RM42 million of SRC International funds between Dec 26, 2014, and Feb 10, 2015.
He was also convicted of abusing his power with regards to the RM4 billion Retirement Fund Inc loan, which the cabinet approved via a government guarantee in two meetings that he chaired in August 2011 and March 2012.