Appeals court needs to clarify whether Najib’s conviction is stayed: Lawyer
The Court of Appeal needs to confirm whether it allowed a stay on Najib Abdul Razak’s conviction over the RM42 million SRC International corruption case, urged a lawyer.
Mohamed Haniff Khatri Abdulla (above) today said the clarification is needed because any stay order on the conviction could arguably still allow the former prime minister to qualify as a candidate for any general election, should one be called while the appeal is still ongoing at the Federal Court.
Yesterday, it was reported that following the Court of Appeal dismissing Najib’s appeal to quash his conviction and sentencing in the RM42 million SRC case, the three-person bench also allowed the defence team’s application for stay of execution on the sentencing, pending appeal to the Federal Court.
When contacted this afternoon, deputy public prosecutor Mohd Ashrof Adrin Kamarul confirmed that the stay order is on both the conviction as well as on the sentencing, pending disposal of Najib’s appeal at the Federal Court.
In a press statement today, Haniff said a clarification from the Court of Appeal is necessary due to non-clarity from media reports yesterday as to whether the stay order only covered sentencing or also encompassed the conviction on one count of abuse of power, three counts of criminal breach of trust (CBT), and three counts of money laundering.
“Furthermore, it needs to be appreciated that a stay order on sentencing and/or stay order on conviction has differing impact and effect under various constitutional and legal provisions against the appellant (Najib)... all this needs to be known and understood accurately and correctly by the people to avoid widespread confusion.
“Therefore, I would be grateful if the office of the Court of Appeal registrar can issue a clarification regarding this matter as soon as possible,” Haniff said.
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