On March 3 this year, High Court judge Mohamed Zaini Mazlan (now Court of Appeal judge) freed Najib and Arul Kanda without calling them to enter their defence.
PUTRAJAYA: Former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and former 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) chief executive officer Arul Kanda Kandasamy’s acquittal in the 1MDB audit tampering case stands.
This follows a decision by the Court of Appeal’s three-member bench comprising Justices Datuk Hadhariah Syed Ismail, Datuk Ahmad Zaidi Ibrahim and Datuk Azmi Ariffin to strike out the two notices of appeal filed by the prosecution.
This was after the prosecution failed to file its petition of appeal within the stipulated time and they also did not file any application to extend the deadline to file the petition of appeal.
Justice Hadhariah said under the law, the notices of appeal were deemed to have lapsed and become void when the petition of appeal was not filed on time and there was also no application by the prosecution for extension of time.
She said based on the chronology of events, three case management proceedings on Aug 21, Aug 28 and Aug 30 this year were held and all of the case management, the prosecution was instructed to file the petition of appeal but it failed to comply with the court’s order.
Justice Hadhariah said the application for time to be extended should be made before the deadline for filing the petition of appeal expires, adding that in this case, the deadline was on July 6 and it was delayed by two months and the prosecution has also not filed an application for extension of time.
In today’s proceeding, deputy public prosecutor Datuk Yusaini Amer Abdul Karim appearing for the prosecution requested the court to fix a date for case management of the appeal to enable them to file an application for extension of time to file its petition of appeal.
Justice Hadhariah asked Yusaini Amer why the prosecution did not file the petition of appeal despite being reminded, and he (Yusaini) said this was a public interest case and that the prosecution required time to truly study all the documents and notes of evidence.
He said it was the latest decision from the Attorney-General’s Chambers to proceed with the filing of the petition of appeal and that the prosecution intended to file the application for an extension of time in two weeks’ time.
However, Arul Kanda’s lawyer Datuk N. Sivananthan and Najib’s lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah objected.
Sivananthan argued that the notices of appeal should be struck out as there was no proper appeal before the court. He said the prosecution had exceeded the time frame to file its petition of appeal.
Muhammad Shafee told the court that Section 53 (3) of the Courts of Judicature Act 1964 states that if a petition is not filed within the 10 days time prescribed, the appeal shall be deemed to have been withdrawn.
He said the Court of Appeal Registrar had reminded the prosecution to file the petition of appeal during the case management proceedings but no petition of appeal was filed and the prosecution also did not provide reasons for the delay in filing the petition of appeal.
He said the prosecution’s actions showed its lack of intention to proceed with the appeal against the acquittal.
On March 3 this year, High Court judge Mohamed Zaini Mazlan (now Court of Appeal judge) freed Najib and Arul Kanda without calling them to enter their defence.
The prosecution subsequently filed the notices of appeal on March 9, this year, seeking to appeal to the Court of Appeal the High Court decision.
However, the prosecution did not file its petition of appeal within the stipulated time of 10 days of receipt of the records of appeal from the High Court registry as required under Section 53 (3) and it also did not file any application to seek an extension of time to file the petition of appeal.
Najib, 70, who is currently serving a 12-year jail sentence in Kajang prison for misappropriating SRC International Sdn Bhd funds, is charged with using his position to order amendments to the 1MDB final audit report before it was presented to the Public Accounts Committee to avoid any action being taken against him.
While Arul Kanda, 46, is charged with abetting with Najib in making the amendments to the report, to protect him (Najib) from being subjected to action.
The offence was allegedly committed at the Prime Minister’s Department Complex, Federal Government Administrative Centre, Putrajaya between Feb 22 and 26, 2016.
Outside the court, Arul Kanda thanked the court for making the decision in accordance with the law.
“We have been vindicated and it is time for me and my family to move on,” he said.
Meanwhile, the law firm Messrs Shafee & Co who is representing Najib, issued a statement saying that given the overwhelming evidence presented in the court, charges should have never been filed against his client.
He said the prosecution’s choice to abstain from pursuing the appeal reinforces the unassailable innocence of both Najib and Arul Kanda. - Bernama
