PUTRAJAYA: Datuk Seri Najib Razak will file an appeal on Monday (Dec 29) against the court’s decision, the ex-prime minister's lead counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah (pic) said, signalling the legal team’s intention to challenge the ruling at the Court of Appeal.
Speaking to reporters after the decision was delivered, Shafee said the defence had anticipated the outcome, although it remained deeply disappointed by the verdict.
“As we expected, the decision on whether Najib would be found guilty - true enough, though we are extremely disappointed, we are not surprised, because we anticipated it from the beginning.
“While we are disappointed, we are more agitated - not in a bad way - but to do better in the appeal, because come Monday (Dec 29) we will file that appeal,” he told a press conference at the Palace of Justice here on Friday (Dec 26).
Shafee described the ruling as unprecedented in his decades-long legal career, saying it was the first time he had lost on every single point argued before the court.
“This is the first case in my 50 years of experience in law where I lost every single point. There’s not a point, even a small one, that I won. Nothing. Zero,” he said.
Using a football analogy, Shafee said the prosecution had secured a “perfect result”.
“In terms of football, they scored 100 and we scored zero. It’s a perfect result for the prosecution,” he said, adding that he was nevertheless looking forward to arguing the case at the Court of Appeal.
Earlier, Najib was found guilty by the High Court of all 25 charges in the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) trial.
Justice Collin Lawrence Sequerah, in his broad grounds of judgment, said that the defence had failed to raise a reasonable doubt in the prosecution's case.
He sentenced Najib to 15 years for each of the charges on abuse of power, and a total fine of RM11.4bil, which is five times the amount of gratification involved in the charges.
For the 21 money laundering charges, Najib is sentenced to five years in jail for each of the charges. However, no fine is imposed for money laundering.
All of the jail time is to run concurrently.
Najib was charged with four counts of using his position to obtain RM2.28bil gratification from 1MDB's funds and 21 counts of money laundering involving the same amount.
The abuse of power offences were allegedly committed at an AmIslamic Bank Bhd branch, Jalan Raja Chulan, Bukit Ceylon, between Feb 24, 2011 and Dec 19, 2014.
Meanwhile, the money laundering offences were allegedly committed at the same location between March 22 and Aug 30, 2013.
