Najib slept off in Appeal Court
PUTRAJAYA: A police officer had to wake ex-premier Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak after he was seen sleeping in front of a three-member Court of Appeal bench during the hearing of his appeal that is linked to the charges he faces involving funds from SRC International Sdn Bhd, a former subsidiary of 1Malaysia Development Bhd.
This happened when his counsel Havinderjit Singh was submitting a reply to Attorney General Tommy Thomas submissions earlier this morning.
Najib, who was seated in front of the accused dock, was seen catching 40 winks, when this came to the police officer’s attention.
The police officer, who was seated on the right side of the court room, was seen walking over to Najib, touching the former premier on his shoulder, and saying some words.
This awoke the ex-prime minister, who was seen nodding to the police officer as he remained vigilant throughout the rest of the proceedings.
Usually during court proceedings, an accused person or those in the public gallery are not allowed to be asleep during the hearing.
Last Friday (March 15), Najib was seen leaving the court room without the court’s permission, also when Havinderjit was in the midst of submission, resulting in Justice Datuk Zabariah Mohd Yusoff calling for a short adjournment for 20 minutes for lawyers to look for the former premier.
Apparently, Najib went to the washroom. As the court resumed, his lead counsel Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah apologised to the bench.
It was previously reported by some media that Najib at the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court in one of his three cases had refused to go into the dock when his case was called up.
The Court of Appeal will deliver its verdict on Thursday in four appeals brought by Najib over his interlocutory applications pertaining to his SRC International Sdn Bhd charges.
Justice Datuk Zabariah Mohd Yusof, leading a three-member panel, agreed to defer the decision to Thursday after the defence and the prosecution completed their submissions today. The other two judges were Datuk Rhodzariah Bujang and Datuk Lau Bee Lan.
One of Najib’s appeals was related to the High Court decision to allow Attorney-General Tommy Thomas’ application to withdraw his certificate to transfer Najib’s seven charges relating to the SRC International funds, from the Sessions Court to the High Court.
The three other appeals were over the High Court dismissal of his bid for a gag order to prohibit the media and public from discussing the merits of his criminal case, his application for discovery of documents and statements, and his challenge of lawyer Datuk Sulaiman Abdullah’s appointment as lead prosecutor in his criminal charges pertaining to SRC International.
Earlier, Attorney-General Tommy Thomas submitted that the defence suggestion for the High Court decision in allowing the Attorney-General to withdraw his transfer certificate to be set aside and for the matter to be re-heard before a different judge, was solely to delay the trial.
He said the appellate court has all the facts and law before it to decide on the validity of the withdrawal of the transfer certificate and subsequent transfer of the case to the High Court, without having to remit the case to another High Court.
“This appeal does not warrant a rehearing at the High Court but a rehearing in the Court of Appeal which is in a good position to decide on the merits of the case,“ he said.
Thomas also argued that the High Court judge, Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali, had the jurisdiction to transfer the case to himself since he heard preliminary matters and case-managed it with the trial dates already fixed before him.
He said that once the certificate is withdrawn, the case will be reverted to the Sessions Court where the case was originally registered.
“It is ludicrous to suggest that the appellant (Najib) should be physically present in the Sessions Court before the High Court judge could act suo motu (on its own motion) under Section 417 (2) of the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC),“ he said.
