Najib’s legal team fail to get appointment letter of lead prosecutor
KUALA LUMPUR: The defence team in former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak’s SRC International Sdn Bhd case has failed to get the letter of authorisation (fiat) on the appointment of lead prosecutor Datuk Sulaiman Abdullah after the High Court here yesterday ruled that there was no legal requirement for the prosecution to do so.
Judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali in his judgment said the instrument of appointment was only required to be shown to the court and not to the accused.
Mohd Nazlan said the court noted that there was a certain lack of clarity when it came to the appointment of Sulaiman but pointed out that the Attorney General’s Chambers had issued a media release on Aug 31.
“The media release which bore the name of Attorney General (AG) Tommy Thomas made it clear that Sulaiman was to lead this case.
“I consider this application to be less than meritorious,” the judge said after dismissing the defence’s application for the prosecution to produce the letter to them.
Mohd Nazlan also said that the appointment letter had been classified under Section 16A of the Official Secrets Act (OSA) 1972 and it could not be questioned in court.
“In that view, I dismiss this application,” he said after hearing submissions by lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, who was representing Najib and Sulaiman, who was appointed the senior DPP by the Attorney General’s Chambers.
Muhammad Shafee also informed the court that he would appeal against yesterday’s decision.
Earlier, Muhamamd Shafee in his submission questioned whether the media release issued by the AG appointing Sulaiman to conduct the criminal prosecution was sufficient as there was no signature at the end.
He also argued that it was the duty of the prosecution to tender the authority letter or letter of appointment before the court adding that the production of the document is a prerequisite.
Sulaiman countered that the prosecution refused to produce the letter of appointment as it had been classified under the OSA.
“AG had personally prosecuted the matter before and had publicly stated that he was handing the case over to advocate solicitor namely Sulaiman Abdullah,” he said.
On Nov 26, the defence team had filed the application for Sulaiman to produce the letter of authority of his appointment as the lead prosecutor in Najib’s case.
Najib, 65, was calm in the dock during the hearing.
On July 4, the Pekan MP was charged with three counts of criminal breach of trust (CBT) and one of abuse of power for gratification involving SRC International funds amounting to RM42 million.
On Aug 8, he was charged with three counts of money laundering involving the same amount of money. – Bernama