A policeman had to wake up former premier Najib Razak after he dozed off in front of a three-member Court of Appeal bench

Najib dozes off in court, is awoken by policeman
Hafiz Yatim/The Edge Financial Daily
March 19, 2019 10:22 am +08





This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on March 19, 2019.






PUTRAJAYA: A policeman had to awaken former premier Datuk Seri Najib Razak after he dozed off in front of a three-member Court of Appeal bench during the hearing of his appeal related to the charges he faces involving funds from SRC International Sdn Bhd, a former subsidiary of 1Malaysia Development Bhd.

The interruption came during a submission by his counsel Havinderjit Singh in reply to points made by Attorney General Tommy Thomas earlier yesterday morning.

Najib, who was seated in front of the dock, was catching his 40 winks, when this came to the policeman’s attention.
Advertisement


The policeman walked over to Najib and touched him on his shoulder before speaking briefly.

Najib woke up at this point, and was seen nodding to the policeman. He remained alert throughout the rest of the proceedings.

During court proceedings, an accused person or those in the public gallery are not allowed to be asleep during the hearing.

Last Friday, Najib was found to have left the courtroom without the court’s permission, also when Havinderjit Singh was in the midst of submission. As a result, Justice Datuk Zabariah Mohd Yusoff called for a short adjournment of 20 minutes for lawyers to look for the former premier.

Najib had apparently gone to the washroom and as the court resumed, his lead counsel Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah apologised to the bench.