PUTRAJAYA (Oct 21): The hearing of jailed former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s application for a judicial review against the Federal Court’s decision that confirmed his guilt and sentence in the SRC International Sdn Bhd case is scheduled to take place on Jan 19, 20 and 26, 2023. 

At case management via Zoom before Federal Court registrar Wan Fatimah Zahara Wan Yussof and deputy registrar Siti Hajar Mustaffa, the dates were set after Najib’s lawyers and the public prosecutors had informed them of the progress of the application for the judicial review. 

The motion was filed in September by the legal firm headed by senior lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, who appears to have been appointed to handle the review after he was dropped as Najib's lead counsel in the former PM's appeal hearing at the apex court.

The Jan 19 hearing is for Najib to obtain leave (permission) from the Federal Court to have the judicial review heard on its full merits.

The registrars were informed by Najib's other lawyer Wan Mohammad Arfan Wan Othman at the case management on Friday (Oct 21) that Shafee has also filed applications and exhibits including a certificate of urgency for the application to be heard. 

Arfan informed the court that they would need 10 days from Friday to reply to the prosecutor’s affidavit. The affidavit in reply was due on Oct 26; however, with the request for more time to reply, it is now due on Oct 31. 

The registrars stipulated that Shafee has to reply to the prosecution’s affidavit by Oct 31, and the public prosecutors are given until Nov 14 to reply to Najib's lead counsel.

Shafee is to then file his final affidavit by Nov 28. 

Both parties will then file their final submissions on or before Jan 4, 2023 before the hearing begins on Jan 19. 

The prosecution was led by Datuk V Sithambaram at the case management. 

In the application, Najib is seeking a review of the Aug 16 decision by the Federal Court to reject his application to adduce further evidence concerning the trial judge in the SRC case, Datuk Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali.

The former PM is also seeking a review of the apex court's decision on the same day to dismiss his bid to postpone his appeal hearing, and also a review of the court's decision on Aug 23 to reject his application to recuse Chief Justice Tun Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat.

He is also seeking a review of the court's decision on Aug 23 to affirm his conviction and sentence. He is seeking a panel of seven judges in a bid to overturn the decision.

A review can be heard under Rule 137 of the Federal Court Rules where the court could use its inherent jurisdiction to hear any application or to make any order as may be necessary to prevent injustice or to prevent an abuse of the court process.

However, it should be noted that it is extremely rare for the apex court to grant leave for a review as the threshold is high, with the applicant having to show that injustice has been done.

Najib, 69, was found guilty of abuse of power in relation to RM4 billion loans given by Retirement Fund (Inc) (KWAP) to SRC between August 2011 and March 2012.

He was also convicted of criminal breach of trust and money laundering involving RM42 million of SRC funds between Dec 26, 2014 and Feb 10, 2015.

For this, Najib was sentenced to 12 years' jail and fined RM210 million by the High Court, with the jail sentence and fine being upheld by the Court of Appeal on Dec 8 last year, and further affirmed by the Federal Court on Aug 23.

With this, Najib became Malaysia's highest-ranked politician to be convicted and sentenced. He is also facing four ongoing trials in relation to SRC's former parent company, 1Malaysia Development Bhd.