Najib withdraws bribery allegations against judge Nazlan

Najib Razak has withdrawn his allegations of bribery against former High Court judge Mohd Nazlan Ghazali who convicted and sentenced him to 12 years’ jail and a RM210 million fine for misappropriating RM42 million in SRC International funds.

Najib, 69, made the withdrawal in his further affidavit-in reply, filed at the Federal Court on Aug 5 via Messrs Zaid Ibrahim Suflan T H Liew & Partners.

"For the record, I categorically withdraw any interpretation of what I said which may be taken to mean that justice Nazlan was investigated for possible bribery," said Najib.

At another point in the affidavit, Najib also said, "As regards to the allegations of bribery, I again state that I withdraw them."

However, Najib maintained that there was additional evidence which would show a serious conflict of interest by the judge, saying this was why he was seeking a retrial of the entire SRC International case.

Najib was responding to the prosecution’s July 21 affidavit, which said that his purported personal knowledge of Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission investigations against Nazlan could not be true as the independent enforcement agency would not disclose confidential information relating to an ongoing investigation.

The prosecution in Najib’s SRC International case also previously claimed that the former prime minister's allegations against the trial judge Nazlan, who is now a Court of Appeal judge, was a desperate attempt to nullify the trial.

On April 21, Nazlan made a police report over an article published by a news portal with the heading "Judge Mohd Nazlan being investigated for unexplained RM1 million in his bank account", which alleged that he was investigated over money transferred into his bank account.

The judge denied the accusation, describing it as a malicious attempt to undermine his credibility as a Court of Appeal judge and to disrupt the justice system as well as the judicial institution.

In July 2020, Nazlan sentenced Najib to 12 years’ prison and fined him RM210 million after finding him guilty of misappropriating RM42 million in SRC International funds.

The case is at the final appeal stage in the Federal Court after the Court of Appeal upheld the verdict of the High Court and rejected Najib's appeal.

The apex court has set 10 days from Aug 15 to hear Najib's final appeal.