KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 7): The appeal records in former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak's 1Malaysia Development Bhd-Tanore (1MDB-Tanore) criminal case are still not ready.
Najib is appealing the conviction and sentence of 15 years' imprisonment and RM11.38 billion fine that were meted out to him by trial judge Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah on Dec 26 last year.
It is understood that Najib's counsels had written to the High Court and were told that the records were still being prepared.
In criminal appeals, the court registry prepares and delivers to parties the appeal records, which contain the notes of evidence, exhibits, and grounds of judgement.
The records are needed in order for Najib to file his grounds for appeal.
Sequerah had delivered his judgement in a marathon session that lasted close to 10 hours on Boxing Day last year. His full 810-page written grounds were released later in June.
In his judgement, Sequerah, who is now an apex court judge, found no merit to Najib's defence that the funds in the ex-PM's private account were donations from the Middle East.
The judge also ruled that the subsequent 'donation letters' tendered as evidence were forged.
Sequerah had also found that Najib was the apex decision-maker in the troubled state-fund, dismissing the ex-PM's defence that fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho (Jho Low) had colluded with 1MDB management to hoodwink him while plundering the state-owned strategic development firm.
The judge had also dismissed Najib's defence — that the monies had not been used for personal gain as US$620 million had been returned in 2013 to Tanore Finance Corp — saying that this was just another run-of-the-mill money-laundering transaction.
Next case management on Dec 16
During case management on Wednesday, the court was also informed of Najib's stay application at the High Court which comes up for hearing next week.
The Court of Appeal then set Dec 16 as the next case management date for the main appeal.
Najib had applied to pause the execution of the conviction and sentence in this case. The matter will be heard before High Court judge Noor Ruwena Md Nurdin on Oct 14.
Najib's application in this case comes fresh on the heels of the Pardons Board — under the 17th King, Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar — announcing last month that the ex-PM is allowed to serve the remainder of his reduced jail term under house arrest, on the condition that he first pays the RM50 million fine.
In the SRC International Sdn Bhd case, the court had upheld Najib's guilty verdict for abuse of power, criminal breach of trust, and money laundering, as well as his 12-year jail term and RM210 million fine.
However, in 2024, the Pardons Board under then-King Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri'ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah reduced the sentence to six years and RM50 million.