KUALA LUMPUR: Datuk Seri Najib Razak will use the dissenting judgment by the Federal Court in his review of the SRC International appeal hearing to bolster his royal pardon application to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.
Najib's lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah said it was important for the Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri'ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah to read the judgment by the Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Datuk Abdul Rahman Sebli as it would indicate that his client did not have a fair trial in this case.
"It is important for the King to read the minority judgment as our pardon request is exactly what Abdul Rahman said in his judgment.
"We will also be sending the majority judgment so that the King can make his own comparison," he said when met at the court complex here.
Shafee said they would send Najib's pardon application within a week as they have yet to receive a copy of the majority's written judgment.
Abdul Rahman in his judgment said it was unfair for the former prime minister to pay the highest price for the mistakes done by his counsel.
He said Najib's then lawyer (Datuk Hisyam Teh Poh Teik) had been denied an opportunity to submit as the latter said he was unprepared to do so after taking on the case at the last minute.
He said the counsel did not submit after informing the panel of judges that he was unprepared to do so.
Abdul Rahman was the sole dissenting voice in the five member panel's decision to reject Najib's application for a review of his conviction and sentence.
The bench, in a four to one decision, rejected Najib's appeal after ruling that he was actually the author of his own misfortune for the way his appeal hearings had gone.
The other members of the bench were Federal Court judge Datuk Vernon Ong Lam Kiat, Datuk Rhodzariah Bujang, Datuk Nordin Hassan and Court of Appeal judge Datuk Abu Bakar Jais.
Najib, 70, had sought to review the Federal Court's own decision on Aug 23 last year. The court had then affirmed his conviction and sentence, which saw him being jailed 12 years and fined RM210 million.
He was first found guilty by the Kuala Lumpur High Court on July 28, 2020, of three counts of criminal breach of trust and three counts of money laundering of RM42 million of SRC International funds between Dec 26, 2014, and Feb 10, 2015.
He was also convicted of abusing his power with regards to the RM4 billion Retirement Fund Inc (KWAP) loan, which the cabinet approved via a government guarantee in two meetings that he chaired in August 2011 and March 2012.