Datuk Seri Najib Razak's statement in the Federal Court on 23 August 2022. | Halek Hossain

 

Datuk Seri Najib Razak's statement in the Federal Court on 23 August 2022.

I would like to inform this Honorable Court of my position in this appeal. Although I was an applicant, but at the same time I felt doubts. Last week, I watched from the dock as my chances on this application slowly faded. Not because of lack of competence but because I am no longer represented.

This Hon'ble Court did not allow my lawyer to withdraw but I was not actually represented. I believe that there has never been a single case in Malaysian legal history where a criminal trial or appellate lawyer has been prevented from withdrawing from representing his client under any circumstances. Even the case cited by Dato Sitham last Friday does not point in this direction! However cases presented to the court show that there is a persistent trend of delay in the process of implicating the accused before such drastic action is taken by the court.

In my case, this is the first time I have changed lawyers for reasonable reasons which I will elaborate on shortly. This is my first request to apply for stay of only 4 months unlike other cases where courts of this country have granted stay of stay about 70 times. At the end of this statement, I would like to say something about what is generally understood about the law regarding the appointment of new lawyers, as well as the circumstances that lead to a request for adjournment.

I take full responsibility for my defense decisions. I think it was the right decision based on the advice of solicitors and outside counsel who were not involved in the case.

It seems that the court has misconstrued against me whenever other appellants who are in the same situation as me, cannot rely on the advice of their lawyers at all but are punished without getting a fair trial as per the existing law. I was not even given a chance to explain my own case and was never asked why I was dragged here. Although the accused is mentioned as the most important person in any criminal court case, I still feel somehow wronged and did not get a fair trial.

Dear Sir, I hope my statement does not offend anyone because that is what I feel. At the end of this trial, as the defendant and appellant, I feel that the entire legal power of the country has been unfairly and unilaterally used against me.

Your Excellency, before I continue, what I want to say has already been disclosed to the media, because I do not want to appeal and gain public sympathy, but I want it to be known to the public and at the same time. Awaiting opportunity to speak in court, if in doubt.

With permission, Your Excellency,

My previous lawyers, Shafee & Co have successfully represented me in the High Court and Appellate Court over the past four years, without any doubt, and that is why they have been my counsel in other trials.

But despite their efforts, I lost both the trial and the appeal in the Court of Appeal, not because my defense lacked merit but because it was rejected by the court. My previous counsel and I had to accept that the defense was not called to trial on all charges because they presented a lax defense.

Based on this fact, I think that this case entered a new perspective, and came up with defensive arguments that felt that the court would guarantee to approve this last appeal, but unfortunately it did not work either. It is important because it involves my life, nothing more.

The initial plan was to enlist the services of Jonathan Laidlaw QC to work with Shafee & Co. Tan Sri Shafi and Harvey. QC presented a thoughtful argument, leading me to believe it would have a positive impact on this case. After all, Chambers and Partners have been described as the best lawyers in the UK and Commonwealth countries for 4 consecutive years for criminal cases involving fraud, corruption, abuse of power and white collar crime.

Note that QC is ready for my appeal application which started last August 15, 2022. Fees for their services are already paid. It should send a message to the court how serious I am that the appeal process will be extended till the 15th of the month

The discovery of new evidence implicating Judge Najlan requires us to hire a new lawyer to independently and fairly assess this honorable court.

Unfortunately, the High Court rejected the QC's offer to appear as my lawyer on 21 July 2022. I'm really disappointed that it's direct Prevents QC preparation prior to appeal process.

With the High Court's rejection and this appeal being expedited, I cannot face the risk of a QC rejection on appeal to the Federal Court because I do not have any additional counsel that was deemed important at the time to argue independently, as in the case of Judge Nazlan.

If you compare my case with Anwar Ibrahim's case, it can be said that my appeal took more time. It took Anwar seven years with over 70 delays to reach this stage. The SRC case took 4 years, two of which were affected by the pandemic with seven other criminal and civil cases against me. As I have noted, I have never requested a stay on this appeal except on the issue of change of counsel.

Strictly speaking, I would say that it was not my intention to delay the court process but because QC Jonathan Laidle's application was not very strong based on the objections of the prosecution and the Bar Council, which ultimately rejected the application less than a month later. Before hearing the appeal. The objection of the Prosecutor and the Bar Council is very absurd as the QC must have a Bahasa Malaysia qualification, a point which the Federal Court itself overcame in the case of Geoffrey Robertson QC.

It is important to show how these two companies are trying hard to deprive me of a qualified lawyer before I go to federal court on August 15th. Any new party with new arguments needs time to read the lengthy appellate record, written submissions, pleadings, etc.

I am not ashamed to say that I am as desperate as those involved in this case. I think what I have decided so far will increase the chances of this appeal case.

Your Excellency, due to my decision I will no longer be represented by another lawyer. Although TN Haji Hisham came with good intentions, he could not represent me effectively as he did not have enough time to prepare or read the charge sheet and I dismissed him and the lawyer on 18 August 2022 as TN Haji explained on his behalf that They were not prepared to argue the appeal, in which case they were not fully prepared. In all seriousness, Your Honor, may I ask this Court, should I be convicted and sentenced for relying on the advice of my own lawyer and defense counsel?

In light of Your Honor's decision last week, I have evaluated several lawyers as alternatives, but in view of the decision and reasoning of this Honorable Court last Tuesday (August 16, 2022), no one can or is willing to represent me unless there is sufficient time. Given by the court as requested by Tn. Mr. Hisham

Even my previous lawyers and solicitors were not able or willing to take up this case again without allotting enough time to them, which is at least 2 months to prepare any adequate documents. They can prepare it within 2 months as they are also involved with High Court and Appellate Court. On the other hand Mr. Haji Hisham, along with his lawyer who was completely new to the case, required at least 4 months for preparation.

I would like to reiterate that I am not represented by a lawyer and I do not know what to do next. Given at least 2 months, I am confident that I can assemble a team to represent me, possibly consisting of my previous lawyer and Hj. Hisham In the proposed combination, probably Tn. Mr. Hisham Shafie & Co can help speed up the preparations. within 2 months.

His Highness, Mr. Haji Hisham said on Monday, hearing the case was like a competition. But now I feel left out of the competition, a competition that denies me legal rights and justice.

Under normal circumstances my lawyer would have made many arguments at this stage but not today. I cannot blame Tuan Haji in this regard and his attempt to present some new matter will be considered invalid as the lawyer has to mention all aspects of available defence, not one or two of the more than 90 facts of available defence. My previous lawyers, Tan Sri Shafi and Harvey Singh, while preparing this appeal pointed out to me that out of the 90 facts in the petition of appeal defense there are at least 40 different grounds, where my appeal on any one of these 40 could exonerate me. charge.

How can any responsible lawyer take only 2 or 3 of Pemb's 90 arguments Can Elan save me? This Hon'ble Court seems to be very much concerned about the time allotted for this appeal considering that any delay would cause inconvenience to the Court and the Prosecutor. But, surely Your Honor, based on what I have said and what I will say later, do we need to deny and abandon this justice?

So please give more time. At this stage, I am asking my lawyer for two months to prepare this appeal. I am already out of luck but at least let me face the court with a proper and strong defense.

The result I am seeking is only a 2 month adjournment for hearing the appeal, and not a 12 year prison sentence for me or my release from this charge. This is still not a fairly high fine.

If time is not granted, this Court will be burdened with legal claims to examine the appellate record (more than 200 volumes including volumes of previous submissions). As for the prosecutor, they must take more time to consider enough before making a decision. In that context, is not a sensible and reasonable approach to extend sufficient time for appeal and defense proceedings?

Your Honor, in addition to my request for time, I would like to file an objection for Your Honor to continue the hearing of this appellate case. I say this with the utmost respect and with no ill intent, but in the past week, there have been numerous reports of sentiments against me put into the public domain by His Eminence's husband, Dato Zamani Ibrahim. In a certain Facebook post dated 11 May 2018, two days after the 14th General Election, Dato Zamani Ibrahim expressed his views which clearly expressed his disgust and disgust with me and that I am directly responsible for the 1MDB and SRC debacle. That is the subject of this appeal.

Recent revelations raise serious questions about the impartiality and competence of Her Majesty's discretion to hear this case. Although I think that emotions are generated by husband and wife, it is not unreasonable to think that such feelings are shared within a family. The law also recognizes that there is a special relationship between husband and wife, which may affect the outcome of this appeal case. Surely such a strong statement by Dato Zamani Ibrahim will be brought to public attention and shared. It contains many biased elements.

While Your Excellency may be of the view that the Court is free from politics, do not forget that the previous Chief Justice, Tun Richard Malanjum who proceeded with my pre-judgment SRC appeal without creating any record of appeal, has now moved. A member of the opposition Pakatan Harapan and has been campaigning for them since retirement. It is very surprising.

Dear Sir, This situation makes me uncomfortable. Doubt whether I will get a fair chance from the beginning of the complaint.

It all started after I brought my complaint before a judge randomly assigned by your own computer system. However, following the news that his brother was a member of UMNO and a member of the Pahang EXCO, he was suddenly and summarily transferred to the Civil Court without an application to withdraw the charges when Judge Nazlan was brought. Now he is involved in the 1MDB issue while at Maybank, which is now part of the SRC case.

Surprisingly, this court has said that the testimony of Judge Najlan has nothing to do with the charges brought against me. It seems only the courts are right. We don't. However, the evidence shows Judge Najlan's involvement which worsened my position in the 1MDB case, not realizing that it tainted his judgment on me. He is a potential witness in the 1MDB case, and if he knew about it earlier, he should have been called to testify.

With the help of several lawyers, I have seen that there are many Commonwealth cases from the UK to Australia, Malaysia, India and Jamaica, South Africa and the US from non-Commonwealth countries and my research shows that in my case, this Court needs the defense to adequately prepare for this important appeal. Counselors should be given time. How this decision of the court can be doubted is observed by all legal practitioners and courts. It's like turning your back on existing norms. In the older case, Chong Fah Hin v. Public Prosecutor, a 1949 decision by Judge Malaya Russell, ruled that every accused has the right to be defended by counsel and should be given adequate time to instruct his counsel.

In the United States, results In Strickland v. Washington in 1984, the Supreme Court ruled that:

"A fair trial is one in which the available evidence is presented to an impartial tribunal for the resolution of predetermined issues. The right to counsel as embodied in the Sixth Amendment plays an important role in the due process, since the prosecution is given adequate opportunity to meet its case, to which it is entitled."

Further, in the same court in United States v. Gonzales-Lopez in 2006 Justice Scalia, a highly respected figure in the legal world, said:

"The same is true of the Sixth Amendment's right to choose a lawyer. It provides that the trial must not only be fair, but must guarantee fairness—the accused should be allowed to choose whatever defense counsel he sees fit."

For the same case, it states that a defense attorney who is less qualified is deprived of his services on the basis of the 6th Amendment when his client can conclude that he did not receive an adequate defense.

In the 1967 Victorian Court of Appeal of Australia in the McGill case, the suspension of the appointment of a new lawyer stated:

“Your Honor's decision was unreasonable in that the reasons that led us to the decision were, first, that the stay of the request was short-lived; Secondly, there is no reason to accept the decision that this delay would embarrass or inconvenience the judiciary; Third, lack of guidance or advice can paralyze the defense; Fourth, the refusal creates a situation inconsistent with the requirements of justice. It is imperative for the administration of justice to uphold the standards required to obtain a fair trial under the law. One of these standards is that the accused must be given full opportunity to present his defence.

In a major case in the Supreme Court of Australia, Dietrich, which had 7 judges and was presided over by Chief Justice Mason, said:

"The decision to suspend or not should be based on the judge's discretion, asking whether the trial would be unfair if the accused were compelled without representation. For our part, the desire to represent the accused under a serious offense is so important that we consider that a trial without a defense would be unfair." . . In all other serious criminal cases, the remedy of delay should be granted so that representation may be obtained."

There are hundreds of such cases all over the world. The lawyer who volunteered this information on my behalf, gave it to me and I believe this policy is so strong and I deserve it. But the prosecution countered that the change of lawyer had nothing to do with my case. I am disappointed with Puan Yang Arif's decision in handling this case. In the case of Yahya Hussain Mohsen Abdul Rab v. Prosecutor, two women judges Ms Yang Arif ruled that an incompetent defense lawyer has no right to represent his client.

Your Honor has directed my counsel who is not prepared to submit the full record of the appeal, to submit to the Court one or two of the 90 grounds of defence. Is this not a deliberate act to deny my right to fair defense? It's not my fault! Is it a trial before the Supreme Court? Let me quote Geoffrey Robertson QC: "Is justice a game?"

Finally, I take it seriously. As of this afternoon, the leaked judgment reasons for my conviction in this appeal case have been circulated on a website called Malaysia Today on 26 August 2022.

If this reason is true, I question the integrity of this court because it was too early to convince me. Till this morning the court thought my lawyer could present 2 or 3 points as suggested by the Chief Justice. How to finalize the court decision before? This court has to answer not only to my family but to the whole country. This is the country for which I have dedicated my life and I will continue to do so.

If true, this is the greatest abuse of legal power.

Your Honor, for the record, I would like to record and take this statement into consideration.

Dato' Shri Najib Razak

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