Pekan seat need not be vacated yet despite Court of Appeal decision, says FT Pejuang deputy chief

PETALING JAYA: The Pekan parliamentary seat need not be vacated, even though its MP Datuk Seri Najib Razak's conviction in the SRC International Sdn Bhd corruption case was upheld on Wednesday (Dec 8), says Muhammad Rafique Rashid Ali (pic).

The Federal Territories Parti Pejuang Tanah Air deputy chief said the seat will only become automatically vacant if the Federal Court, as the final avenue of appeal, decides to uphold the High Court’s conviction.

“Article 53 of the Federal Constitution states that the Pekan parliamentary seat will not automatically become vacant in the event that Najib files an appeal to a superior court.

“It will only become empty automatically if Najib does not make any appeal to a more superior court, or the superior court upholds the High Court’s decision,” Rafique said in a statement Wednesday.

Rafique, who is also a lawyer, said for now, Najib could still attend Dewan Rakyat sessions as an MP.

“Article 48 (4) (b) of the Federal Constitution states that the effective date of disqualification for Najib as Pekan MP is until the highest court - in this case it must be the Federal Court - makes a final decision.

“Therefore, he can still attend the Dewan Rakyat session, debate and vote on any motion,” said Rafique.

Earlier, the Court of Appeal upheld the conviction and sentence of Najib in the SRC International Sdn Bhd case, where the former prime minister was found guilty of misappropriating RM42mil from the company's coffers.

A three-man panel chaired by Justice Abdul Karim Abdul Jalil had said that the appellate court had found no errors in the decision by the learned trial judge, Justice Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali.

The Court of Appeal has also allowed a stay of application by Najib on the execution of his sentence, pending an appeal to the Federal Court.