This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly on August 3, 2020 - August 9, 2020

HIGH Court judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali emerges from his chambers and enters the courtroom.

Nazlan starts reading out his judgment, starting with the abuse of power charge, moving on to the criminal breach of trust (CBT) charges and then money laundering charges.

He says the prosecution had successfully proven its case beyond a reasonable doubt.

He finds Najib guilty on all seven charges.

Lead defence counsel Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah asks for a brief of the judgment, so that he can come up with reasonable mitigation. He requests for reasonable time to be given to the defence to mitigate on Monday (Aug 3).

Shafee indicates that he will submit a notice of appeal over the decision.

Lead prosecutor Datuk V Sithambaram says one does not need the court recordings as the judgment was read in open court. He argues that a stay of conviction may prejudice the prosecution.

Shafee asserts that a stay of mitigation can be considered as it is within the court’s discretion.

Arguments over the stay of conviction between Shafee, Sithambaram and Nazlan go on for about 15 minutes. The judge then announces a recess, so that the parties can find case law on the stay of mitigation.

Najib is held in the witness room throughout the break.

Proceedings continue after lunch and Shafee cites some case law which, he argues, suggests mitigation could be stayed.

Sithambaram objects to the stay application and wants sentencing to be made right away. “We are ready to proceed, but if the court wants to adjourn, conditions [for bail] must be met,” he says.

Nazlan rules that the court is not granting a stay of mitigation.

He says sentencing can be postponed but the reason given by the defence to study the grounds of his decision is not valid.

He orders that mitigation be heard.

Shafee starts his submission for mitigation. After about 40 minutes, he ends his submission but says his colleague Harvinderjit Singh would also like to submit. He also informs the judge that Najib would like to address the court once mitigation is over.

Sithambaram begins his submission against mitigation, and suggests that the court should accord the maximum sentence.

Najib addresses the court. He lists his contributions and achievements during his tenure as prime minister and recites the “sumpah laknat”, swearing that he neither demanded the RM42 million nor was it offered to him.

After listening to the parties, Nazlan hands down his sentence.

Harvinderjit begins his appeal for a stay of execution.

Sithambaram argues that the sentence has to be executed immediately. He says the amount for bail must be at least doubled if a stay is granted.

Shafee submits for the grant of a stay of execution. He says the appeal to the Court of Appeal will be done in two to three months.

Nazlan finds that the applicant had successfully established a stay of execution and a stay of fine. He sets bail at RM2 million with two sureties to be paid the next day, and orders Najib to report to the nearest police station on the 1st and 15th of every month.

The verdict proceedings conclude.

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