Datuk Seri Najib Razak (left) and his lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah.
KUALA LUMPUR: An application has been filed at the Federal Court to nullify the trial involving SRC International Sdn Bhd where Datuk Seri Najib Razak was found guilty of abuse of power, criminal breach of trust and money laundering.
"The further and additional evidence is intended primarily to persuade the Federal Court to nullify the trial of the High Court as it infringes the rules against bias and fair trial principles," said the former prime minister's lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah at the Kuala Lumpur Courts Complex on Tuesday (June 7).
The evidence Najib's legal team wants to adduce is related to Datuk Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali, the judge who presided over the trial at the High Court.
Muhammad Shafee claimed that there was a conflict of interest involved.
He added that a new discovery had revealed that Mohd Nazlan served as the general counsel and company secretary for Maybank group in 2006.
Maybank Investment Bank Bhd was the body that proposed the formation of SRC International Bhd while its wholly-owned strategic advisory division, Bina Fikir Sdn Bhd, was tasked with the research and advisory matters pertaining to the establishment of the firm.
"The fact that Justice Mohd Nazlan knew of his personal involvement in the setting up of SRC but concealed it to the defence amounts to a conflict of interest which has led to a real danger of bias.
"The personal involvement of the learned trial judge in matters pertaining to the RM4.17bil loan to 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) puts him in the situation of conflict as he becomes a potential witness in an intimately related criminal case against Najib which is ongoing simultaneously with the SRC trial," said Muhammad Shafee.
He added that Mohd Nazlan – in his capacity as general counsel and company secretary of Maybank as well as the corporate and legal services head – also had "constructive knowledge if not direct knowledge" of the RM140mil loan facility given by Maybank to Putra Perdana Development (PPD), whereby the proceeds of the loan facility forms part of the charges related to the RM42mil.
Muhammad Shafee said documents also revealed that Mohd Nazlan had acted as the general counsel and company secretary to Maybank on March 12, 2012 in the deliberation and decision making of a RM4.17bil loan facility to 1MDB for the acquisition of Tanjong Energy Holdings
He added that a Maybank Investment bank officer named Michael Oh-Lau, who served as managing director, head of debt markets, confirmed that Mohd Nazlan had attended board of directors meetings related to the loan to 1MDB. He went on to claim that Mohd Nazlan was also briefed on the steps to be taken against 1MDB and Tanjong Energy Holdings, when the sovereign wealth fund was on the verge of defaulting on its payments.
Muhammad Shafee said the facts adumbrated made Justice Mohd Nazlan a potential witness in the 1MDB case.
In July 2020, Najib was found guilty of seven charges of abuse of power, criminal breach of trust and money laundering in the SRC International trial.
He was sentenced to 12 years in jail and fined RM210mil.
The Court of Appeal also upheld the High Court's verdict on Dec 8, 2021.
