[ad_1]
Datuk Seri Najib Razak arrives at the High Court in Kuala Lumpur on October 26, 2021. – Malay Mail photo
PUTRAJAYA (December 7): The Court of Appeal warned Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak that this was a court and not a cafe.
Judge Datuk Abdul Karim Abdul Jalil said this after lawyer Harvinder Singh Sidhu, who represented Najib, told the court that the former prime minister’s bailiffs were not present at today’s hearings.
Abdul Karim: Where is Najib? Where are the donors?
Harvinder: The appellant (Najib) is not present as he is casual contact with Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah’s son Muhammad Farhan, who has tested positive for Covid-19. The bailiffs are not present either.
Abdul Karim: Najib has become a casual contact, easy to justify, but the court needs proof. There are two categories of close contact. The most important thing is to attend court. Everyone has been exposed with (close contact). It is a court of law. We want proof. Even the bailiffs are not present!
Hearing Harvinder’s explanation, one of the bailiffs, Faizal Shamsuddin, was seen entering the courtroom.
Soon after, Abdul Karim questioned Faizal about Najib’s whereabouts.
Abdul Karim: Where is Najib? Why is he not in court? Your responsibility as a funder is heavy. You need to make sure it’s there. Do you know why Najib is not present?
As a surety you should know that if we are not satisfied, we can drop the surety and issue an arrest warrant against Najib. Where is Najib?
Faizal: Datuk Seri is at the Pavilion.
Abdul Karim: Pavilion? His home? Did you call him and ask or are you just guessing? Don’t guess, this is a pitch, not a cafe.
Judge Abdul Karim, chairman of a three-member bench, also asked about Najib’s other backer.
“Where’s another funder? On my way? The court starts at 9 am, â€he said.
Faizal was also warned for making recordings during the proceedings.
After that, the court interpreter and several police officers approached the surety and checked his cell phone.
The other two panelists were Judges Datuk Has Zanah Mehat and Datuk Vazeer Alam Mydin Meera.
The court was initially due to hear Najib’s request to provide further evidence in his appeal against his conviction and sentence for embezzling RM42 million of SRC International Sdn Bhd funds.
The hearing was scheduled to continue online at 12:30 p.m. – Bernama
[ad_2]