Apex court strikes out King's counsel bid to represent Najib

The Federal Court in Putrajaya today struck out UK-based King's counsel Jonathan Laidlaw's appeal to be admitted as an advocate and solicitor to represent Najib Razak in the SRC International Sdn Bhd criminal case.

The unanimous decision to allow the application by four respondents to nullify the appeal by Laidlaw to appear for the former prime minister was made by the apex court's three-member bench led by justice Zabariah Mohd Yusof.

The four respondents are the Attorney-General's Chambers (AGC), the Malaysian bar, the Kuala Lumpur bar committee and the prosecution.

The court also ruled that Laidlaw's bid to represent Najib in the SRC International case has been rendered academic after the Federal Court in August last year as well as March this year upheld Najib's conviction as well as a 12-year jail sentence and RM210 million fine.

The court's decision was delivered in an online proceeding.

The bench held that it was not in dispute that Najib's final appeal in August last year, as well as his review application in March, have been disposed of with finality.

"Laidlaw’s bid for admission was for the criminal proceedings of Najib in the SRC International case, in the appeal, as well as the review. Thus, Laidlaw's appeal is academic now," Justice Zabariah said.

The other two judges on the bench were Nordin Hassan and Abu Bakar Jais.

Counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah acted for Laidlaw, while senior federal counsel Shamsul Bolhassan and deputy public prosecutor V Sithambaram appeared for the AGC and prosecution, respectively.

Lawyers Bastian Pius Vendargon and Gurdial Singh Nijar appeared for the Malaysian Bar and Kuala Lumpur Bar Committee, respectively.

On July 21 last year, the Kuala Lumpur High Court rejected an application for Laidlaw to represent Najib in his final appeal against his conviction of misappropriating RM42 million belonging to SRC International.

Previously, Muhammad Shafee said that Laidlaw would represent Najib if there was a rehearing of his appeal pertaining to his SRC case in the Federal Court.

In 2020, the High Court sentenced Najib to 12 years in jail and fined him RM210 million. His appeal against his conviction and sentence was dismissed by the Court of Appeal in 2021.

Najib, 70, is serving his sentence in Kajang Prison after the Federal Court upheld his conviction, sentence, and fine on Aug 23 last year.

The former prime minister then filed an application for a review of the Federal Court ruling, and the new panel of the Federal Court dismissed his request on March 31.