PUTRAJAYA – The Court of Appeal gave an ultimatum to the request of Datuk Seri Najib Razak to adduce fresh evidence in his SRC International Sdn Bhd case, to either go ahead with a hybrid proceeding or face an arrest warrant.
The order came after the defence requested to postpone the hearing this morning after the defence team became casual contact to a lawyer who was tested positive of Covid-19.
Federal Court Judge, Datuk Abdul Karim Abdul Jalil seemingly lost his patience by the excuse given by Najib’s lawyer, Harvinder Singh Sidhu.
Abdul Karim also reminded Najib and his defence team that they are in the court which executes justice and law, and not at a coffee shop where they can do as they wish.
He was also enraged after finding that the two sureties were absent during the filing of application for deferment and one of them only appeared during the proceeding.
The surety could not answer the judge’s question on the whereabouts of Najib.
“This is the court. We need evidence and not merely saliva and talks.
“Today is the hearing of the proceeding and the two sureties of Najib have been informed earlier. Do you know that we can revoke the surety (RM2 million) and issue an arrest warrant for not attending court?
“You (surety), yourself do not know where Najib is. You are only guessing. This is not a coffee shop. The court is based on the law. Do not play guessing games.
“You cannot merely use your saliva as an explanation but you need solid proof on why Najib is not here today,” he said.
The three-judge bench includes Datuk Has Zanah Mehat and Datuk Vazeer Alam Mydin Meera.
The court rejected the application to postpone the hearing and fixed a hybrid proceeding at 12.30 pm today.
Journalists will be placed at a hall at the Palace of Justice to attend the live proceeding.
Abdul Karim also rejected the application to defer the verdict to release Najib or to maintain the verdict and conviction against him after he was found guilty by the High Court over the RM42 million SRC International Sdn Bhd charges.
Throughout the past seven months, the defence team had presented 307 reasons on why Najib should not be found guilty on all seven counts of charges. -MalaysiaGazette
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