PUTRAJAYA (Oct 28) : The transportation costs to bring Datuk Seri Najib's from prison to Putrajaya for next month's civil appeal will be borne either by the former prime minister or his appointed law firm.
This was indicated by his lawyer Bala Ravi Sankar of Messrs Raj Ong & Yudistra to a three-member Federal Court bench led by Chief Judge of Malaya Datuk Seri Hashim Hamzah.
Bala Ravi told the bench that they are making an ex parte application to secure Najib’s attendance during his leave (permission) to appeal in Tan Sri Tommy Thomas’ case and should leave be granted his attendance would also be secured in the hearing of the appeal proper.
Hashim said as this is a civil case and not criminal, then the party applying for it would have to bear the expenses of transporting the former premier from (Kajang) prison to here.
Bala Ravi undertakes that they will bear all the expenses should the application be granted.
Following this, Hashim, who sat with Federal Court judges Datuk Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali and Datuk Azmi Ariffin allowed the application with amendment to include that Najib or the law firm will bear all expenses.
Bala Ravi when contacted after proceedings said Najib would bear the costs as he is the applicant.
Najib in jail since August 2022
Najib, 73, is presently serving his six years’ sentence and RM50 million fine after being found guilty on all seven charges of abuse of power, criminal breach of trust and money laundering with regard to his SRC International Sdn Bhd case.
He was originally sentenced to 12 years jail and RM210 million fine by Nazlan who presided over his High Court case then, where the conviction and sentence was upheld all the way to the Court of Appeal and the Federal Court in August 2022.
The former Umno president was granted a second pardon recently by the Yang di Pertuan Agong Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar, where he is allowed to serve the remainder of his jail term under home confinement at his Jalan Langgak Duta home, if the RM50 million fine is paid.
Najib had sought permission to appeal to reinstate his RM1.9 million misfeasance in public office, malicious prosecution and negligence suit against Thomas for the criminal charges brought against him including the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) case.
He filed the suit in 2021 but this was struck out in 2022. The decision was upheld by a three-member Court of Appeal bench in January this year, although it ruled that the former attorney general’s position as the AG at that time does not make him immune from any action.
However, the appellate bench found that there was no misfeasance in Thomas' conduct, as he had not led the prosecution of Najib in the four cases, and the criminal cases then were still ongoing.
Najib had been found guilty by the High Court in December last year of four counts of abuse of power and 21 money laundering charges with regard to RM2.27 billion of 1MDB funds, where he was sentenced to another 15 years jail and RM11.4 billion fine and is presently on appeal.
Originally, Najib’s motion for leave to appeal at the apex court was scheduled to be heard on July 30, but he couldn't attend proceedings as he had just undergone an angiogram procedure. Now it is scheduled on Nov 26.