Najib’s in jail. 4 super pedas moments from his final appeal.

After 4 years of going back and forth, Najib’s SRC International case finally came to a close yesterday (23 Aug 2022) after his final appeal was unanimously dismissed at the highest court by a five-panel judge. In short, Najib’s in jail yo!

As his previous conviction is upheld, Najib now faces a RM210 million fine and 12 years in jail, as his multiple jail sentences will be run concurrently. Netizens are having a field day over it, but what led up to this point – the three-day final appeal – was no less entertaining.

We won’t be covering that in detail, but for those of you who haven’t been following the case, here are some of the spiciest moments from the appeal that made us take a sip of tea liddis:

 

1. When the court reminded Najib’s lawyer that he can’t just quit sesuka hati

So before this final appeal, Hisyam Teh Poh Teik, Najib’s counsel, had tried asking the court to delay the appeal by 3-4 months as he was new to the case and needed to go through a ton of documents. The court wasn’t having it, and yeeted that request to the stratosphere – which is why the appeal was held starting Thursday last week.

Come Thursday morning, Hisyam tried asking the court to delay again.

“Under these circumstances I pray that this court reviews the earlier decision (to not give him 3-4 months) and allow it. However, in the event that My Ladies and My Lords aren’t inclined to give me time, I pray that I be discharged as counsel. A prayer that will sadden me. I sincerely hope that my request will be granted.” – Hisyam, as quoted by Benar News.

But Chief Justice Tengku Maimun, who led the 5-judge panel overseeing this appeal, essentially said nope, we already decided this before. Hisyam then tried to back out, saying that he can’t represent Najib under these circumstances, and tried to be discharged (aka he wanted to quit being Najib’s lawyer then and there). To which CJ Maimun replied…

“You still need our permission if you want to discharge (yourself),” – CJ Tengku Maimun, as quoted by FMT.

Essentially, she reprimanded Hisyam that counsels shouldn’t just walk away leaving their clients unrepresented, and Hisyam should have filed an affidavit first. After a bit of drama, the court stuck to their earlier decision: Hisyam stays as Najib’s counsel.

 

2. When the court didn’t layan Hisyam being sulky

After the whole give-us-more-time-or-we-pull-out incident got resolved, the prosecution, led by ad hoc prosecutor Datuk V Sithambaram, started his submission – which is fancy law speak for presenting facts for the judge to consider. After that’s wrapped up, Hisyam told the court that Najib’s team will not be making any fresh submissions because they ain’t got time to prepare.

“My position is that I will file submissions only if I’m given time. I will not file the submissions. That is my position,” – Hisyam, as quoted by The Edge Markets.

This was essentially Najib’s team saying if we can’t have a ‘fair fight’, we won’t fight at all. But CJ Tengku Maimun essentially went suka hati lor (“it is his prerogative not to file fresh submissions”) and said that the panel will deal with this when the court resumes next Tuesday.

“If you choose not to participate then that is your position. The court will not repeat itself.” – CJ Tengku Maimun, as reported by The Edge.

Spoiler alert: he never did file those submissions.

 

3. When they tried to take down CJ Maimun based on her husband’s FB post from 2018

Late on Monday, the night before the final day of the appeal, Najib’s team suddenly filed an application to recuse CJ Tengku Maimun (read: tried to remove her from the case) based on a Facebook post by her husband from back in 2018 that said he was “happy because Najib had been dethroned“. Essentially, they reasoned that since her husband was against Najib, CJ Maimun as his wife would be influenced by his Najib-hating sentiments and isn’t fit to oversee the appeal.

A bunch of drama ensued, with the judges saying that they will hear Najib’s team reply on the appeal first, and Hisyam insisting that the court hear the recusal first. CJ Tengku Maimun then said,

“We are not here to waste time,” – CJ Tengku Maimun, as reported by FMT.

Anyways, it was decided that the appeal is practically settled anyhow: Najib’s conviction from last time was considered valid, and since Najib’s team didn’t bring anything new to the case (cause they dowan to file the submissions), they’ll layan the recusal then and there.

 

4. When the court treated a dressed-up Shafee like chopped liver

After a brief recess, a wild Tan Sri Shafee appeared in court, whom you might remember as Najib’s lawyer for the case before Najib replaced him with Hisyam. Hisyam said that he invited Shafee for the recusal. Can he do that? Will this turn the case around?

Lmao no. Shafee tried asking to delay the recusal hearing by 24 hours, because he just heard about this hours ago, he was busy with a symposium in Parliament, and he has to go back after lunch. The poor guy was rushing so much that he didn’t even have time to dress up for court.

“I am wearing my checkered suit, not my black suit because I came straight here,” – Shafee, as quoted by BFM.

The court and prosecution wasn’t having none of that side quest, and they swiftly brought the nopehammer down on their request to postpone. Shafee wasn’t having that either, and told the court that he will be back tomorrow to present his case. But CJ Tengku Maimun added a new layer of having none of that, essentially telling him that if he wants to come tomorrow, he will syok sendiri in an empty court.

“No, no, no. I have given our ruling. That’s entirely up to you whether you want to attend. Nobody has to be here tomorrow if we conclude everything today (Tuesday),” – CJ Tengku Maimun, as quoted by The Edge Markets.

Cut to end, the recusal got yeeted. The earlier conviction was upheld. Najib goes to Penjara Kajang.

 

Faith in Malaysian judiciary restored? Perhaps.

The morning after the conviction was upheld, people are already talking about the possibility of Najib getting out of this – either through a royal pardon, or by BN winning the upcoming General Election. Whether any of these will happen in the future will remain to be seen, but one thing was made clear yesterday: it’s possible for the judiciary to put a former Prime Minister in jail. Already, people are having their faith in our judiciary restored.

Will we be singing the same tune for Najib’s remaining four cases, and for other ongoing corruption trials? While we can’t say for sure, based on yesterday’s events… maybe there’s hope yet.