COMMENT | Why I am elated by the Federal Court decisions

COMMENT | I am elated by the Federal Court decisions over Najib Abdul Razak’s SRC International case because it has finally, firmly and faultlessly put his fate in the hands of a free and fair judicial decision shorn of all the drama, delay and delinquency of the past few years.

Both decisions by the court - the first to reject the introduction of further evidence in the trial and the second the decision to give an adjournment of a day instead of the three to four months requested by Najib’s new lawyers - are fair and proper with full reasons given.

At long last Najib will face his fate based on the mountain of evidence presented against him and he faces the consequences if the court affirms his guilty conviction regarding the RM42 million he received from SRC, a wholly subsidiary of the Minister of Finance Inc. There was no doubt that the amount came into Najib’s account but Najib maintained he was not aware of it.

In a few days, we may know the Federal Court’s decision over Najib’s appeal to overturn High Court judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali’s decision to convict him on seven charges relating to SRC - one of abuse of power, three for criminal breach of trust and three for money laundering.

He was found guilty on all seven counts and sentenced to 12 years in jail and RM210 million in fines. The Court of Appeal had earlier on Dec 8, more than eight months ago, upheld Nazlan’s decision. Following this, Najib’s lawyers asked for a mistrial saying Nazlan was conflicted, applied for a Queen’s Counsel to hear the appeal and in a dramatic last-minute move, Najib switched lawyers.

I saw the KiniTV video when Najib, his counsel Hisyam Teh Poh Teik and another partner of the firm Zaid Ibrahim took turns at the microphone following the Federal Court hearing. They all uniformly expressed their deep disappointment at the Federal Court decisions and walked away without taking questions.

It was a rather grim appearance with all of them fully understanding the gravity of the situation and that the final decision on Najib will be made very soon.

But none of them articulated any...