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| Abdul Karim Abdul Jalil, Has Zanah Mehat and Vazeer Alam Mydin Meera are the three judges hearing Najib Razak’s SRC International appeal. |
Malaysia’s appellate court upholds Najib’s guilty conviction in 1MDB-linked graft case
PUTRAJAYA: Malaysia's Court of Appeal has upheld former prime minister Najib Razak's guilty verdict in a corruption trial involving RM42 million (US$9.9 million) of 1Malaysia Development Berhad-linked funds.
Justice Abdul Karim Abdul Jalil, who headed a three-member panel, delivered the judgment on Wednesday (Dec 8).
“We dismiss the appeal on all seven charges and affirm the conviction,” he was quoted as saying by the Star.
Najib attended the proceeding through Zoom as he and several lawyers in his defence team were casual contacts of a COVID-19 case.
On Jul 28 last year, the High Court sentenced Najib to 12 years in jail and fined him RM210 million, following a guilty verdict in his first corruption trial involving millions of ringgit from former 1MDB subsidiary SRC International Sdn Bhd.
He was charged with three counts of criminal breach of trust, three counts of money laundering and one count of abuse of power.
For each count of criminal breach of trust, Najib was sentenced to 10 years' jail; for each count of money laundering, 10 years.
For abuse of power, the judge handed out a sentence of 12 years' jail and a RM210 million fine. If Najib fails to pay the fine, a five-year jail sentence will be served in lieu.
All prison sentences would run concurrently.
Najib has denied wrongdoing and had appealed against the conviction.
Judges at the appellate court concluded the hearing on his appeal on May 18, and his attempt to adduce new evidence in his appeal was dismissed by the court on Tuesday.
In 2018, after the Najib-led Barisan Nasional (BN) government was ousted in the 14th general election, Dr Mahathir Mohamad, the next prime minister on his second stint in office, called for investigations on the 1MDB scandal to be reopened.
In the months that followed, Najib was barred from leaving the country and police had seized cash and other valuable items from premises linked to him.
On Oct 18, the Court of Appeal granted a request from Najib to temporarily release his passport so he could attend the birth of his grandchild in Singapore.
He later sought to postpone his trip so that he could campaign for BN in the Melaka state election.
Source: CNA/Agencies/tx
Full Statemen by Court of Appeal Judge Abdul Karim
: “There’s no national interest when RM42 mil were transferred into Najib’s accounts , only national embarrassment” said Court of Appeal judge Abdul Karim as he read out the unanimous decision of the three member panel. Outside the court complex, Najib’s supporters are gathering
: Najib and his legal team are joining the proceeding online while the prosecution led by DPP V Sithambaram is in the courtroom together with the three judge panel led by court of appeal judge
: panel of Court of Appeal judges headed by Abdul Karim Abdul Kalil ruled that the panel of judges agreed with the trial judge's decision that Najib Razak as prime minister at the time had a personal interest in the cabinet when approving a RM4 billion government guarantee from the Incorporated Retirement Fund (KWAP) to SRC.
: Court of Appeal judge Abdul Karim Abdul Jalil ruled that the trial judge was correct in finding Najib Razak to be the “shadow director” for SRC International.
: Court of Appeal judge Abdul Karim Abdul Jalil ruled that the trial judge was correct when he found that Najib Razak had instructed the SRC board of directors to divert loan funds abroad which had nothing to do with the purpose of the loan from KWAP.
The judge stated that Najib was the "director general" of the SRC.
: Court of Appeal judge Abdul Karim Abdul Jalil ruled that the trial judge was correct when he found Najib Razak to have full authority over SRC International.
: Court of Appeal judge Abdul Karim Abdul Jalil ruled that the RM42 million outflow of money from the SRC and to several companies was done to make it difficult to trace and avoid detection by the authorities.
: Judge Karim rules that Najib has knowledge of the RM42 million that went into his account between 2014 and 2015.
The judge said the bench agrees with the trial judge that there was clear misappropriation of the RM42 million by Najib for his own use.
: Court of Appeal judge Karim rules that the defence's claim that the money transferred into Najib’s account was an Arab donation is untenable.
He rules that if it were really an Arab donation, then there is no reason for the money to first be deposited into the account of SRC, which was a wholly-owned entity of Ministry of Finance Inc.
: Judge Karim rules that the trial judge correctly found that the three criminal breach of trust charges against Najib have been proven beyond reasonable doubt.
: The bench agrees with the trial judge that Najib's defence claim that the money in his account is an Arab donation is a concoction devoid of credit.
Judge Karim rules that there is no evidence that the money was from the Arab royal family and there is instead plenty of evidence showing the funds were from SRC.
: Najib's appeal dismissed, High Court decision upheld
The judge dismisses Najib's appeal for all seven charges and upheld the decision of the High Court.
“There is no error in the judgement of the High Court,” Justice Abdul Karim says.
: Court rules that prosecution has successfully proven all seven charges of abuse of power, criminal breach of trust and money laundering against Najib.
: Judge Karim Jalil rules that the bench upholds the trial judge’s conviction, RM210 million fine and 12-year jail term against Najib.
He says the bench dismisses Najib's appeal.
: Lead defence counsel Shafee informs the Court of Appeal that they will be appealing against today's verdict to uphold Najib’s conviction and sentence in the RM42 million SRC International case.
The lawyer is now submitting an application for a stay of execution of the sentencing, pending appeal to the Federal Court.
