Many from the ‘dark side’ (referring to Pakatan Harapan and their residues) had massive pre-ejaculations after local media outlets reported that former Prime Minister (who happens to be the best one Malaysia ever had in recent years), Najib Razak’s appeal was unanimously dismissed by a the three-member Court of Appeal (CoA) bench today, including Judges Datuk Has Zanah Mehat and Datuk Vazeer Alam Mydin Meera.
I have bad news for these people. The appeal matter is still ongoing today. Najib Razak is still not in jail. And the appeal that was dismissed was not because it was not worth it, but because “proper CoA process was not adhered” too.
Even those celebrating this victory (smirks) have nothing to rejoice looking at the developments yesterday and today.
The whole rationale of Najib receiving the apparent bribes has been questioned (hello, who would take bribes and send them back to the person? really!) and the “common sense” of the judge who had convicted Najib in High Court (very aptly described by Shafee Abdullah but thought otherwise by the CoA judges).
For those who still take the trouble to read the daily news instead of getting wise via Whatsapp Videos, they would have known that the court of appeal was due to hear Najib Razak’s appeal against his conviction and sentencing for the SRC International Sdn Bhd case.
What they probably wouldn’t have know is the fact that Najib Razak’s defence team had applied for an adjournment of one month on the very day the appeal hearing begun.
It was that application, ie the one to postpone the appeal hearing to another day, was the one that was rejected by the Court of Appeal.
Why was the application made? Is it a blatant attempt to delay the trial as many seem to think?
The truth is, the defence team asked to be granted a one-month adjournment to get relevant documents from New York and Singapore. This document especially, the ones from Singapore, hold the key to unlocking the truth in Najib Razak’s case.
Sadly though, the Court of Appeal decided Najib’s defence team, led by Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, had to make a proper written application before the court to adjourn the hearing of Najib’s appeal in 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) former subsidiary SRC’s case. The court rejected the appeal being made verbally and not via proper documentations.
Since there was no application put before them as required by the Court of Appeal rule book, the judges unanimously decided to proceed with the appeal matter.
The matter was not helped by the fact that the “learned” Pakatan appointee to prosecute Najib basically told the court that the whole application is a futile exercise and was insignificant to the outcome of the case.
But is that the case here as far as the legal rights of Najib, the citizen, are concerned?
Why are those documents important, you may ask.
On 28 July 2020, Najib Razak was found guilty of seven charges in relation to SRC International, a unit of 1MDB because he did not say “thank you” via a handwritten note to the donor of the RM 2.6 billion donation. The donor happened to be the then King of Saudi Arabia.
In any case, a series of exposes following that decision has nudged the case to Najib’s favour as far as the defence team is concerned.
On 28 December that same year, it was revealed by blogger Raja Petra Kamaruddin that some of Zeti’s (the former Bank Negara Governer) family members had received over RM100 million from Jho Low (the mastermind behind the 1MDB scandal and is now on the run from the authorities).
Following the allegation, Free Malaysia Today (FMT) carried reports of admission by Zeti’s husband and two sons that they knew about the money via statutory declarations (SDs) signed in March last year. FMT, who had sighted those SDs had it certified to be authentic by the attesting lawyers.
The SDs, FMT wrote, also stated that Zeti’s husband and sons had agreed to a settlement with the Singapore government to return the money in their accounts to 1MDB, in return for Singapore dropping investigations. However, Zeti has issued a statement denying allegations that she and her family had received funds from 1MDB, contending that they are completely false and malicious.
During the mitigation hearing of Najib’s sentencing, lead prosecutor Sithambaram submitted that if not for the press, the crime for which Najib has been convicted may not have been detected.
“If not for the exposure of the crimes by the press, this crime may have never been detected,” as reported by Malaysiakini published on 28 July 2020.
Perplexing And Hypocritical
Having said all that, how perplexing and hypocritical would it be for Datuk Sitambaram the ad hoc prosecutor to say the following: “This is actually another way of seeking an adjournment on non-valid grounds.”
Non-valid grounds? Hello, Datuk. If the expose by the press favours your case, you will praise the press for their expose and have it on court records as well. But if another expose by the same press is against your case, it automatically becomes “non-valid grounds”?
Sorry, but that’s just too convenient, Datuk! – New Malaysia Herald
About the Writer: Yukiepedia, by Yuktes Vijay, is the anti thesis of “Wikipedia”. When Wiki lies, Yuki edits. (wiki here refers to general social media where fake news is shared. Yuki refers to this column which rectifies wiki aka social media lies).
New Malaysia Herald publishes articles, comments and posts from various contributors. We always welcome new content and write up. If you would like to contribute please contact us at : editor@newmalaysiaherald.com
Facebook Comments
Facebook Comments