The date of the trial would be fixed pending the outcome of Najib’s challenge against the prosecutor’s withdrawal of his certificate of transfer.
A three-member bench, led by Ahmadi Asnawi, said that Najib had cited special circumstances and asked for a stay on the trial scheduled to begin tomorrow.
“We opine it would be a waste of time and public money for the trial to proceed only to become a nullity later,” he said in the unanimous ruling.
Mohamad Zabidin Mohd Diah and Yew Jen Kie were the other two judges on the bench.
Ahmadi said the court could not accept Attorney-General Tommy Thomas’ submission that the applicant had used delay tactics to stall the trial.
He said the bench also took into consideration Thomas’ contention that Najib, in his capacity as the former prime minister, had committed a serious crime and the case had attracted local and international attention.
Last week, High Court judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali allowed the public prosecutor to withdraw his certificate to transfer Najib’s seven charges from the High Court to the Sessions Court.
The judge then acted “suo motu” (used his discretion) under Section 417 of the Criminal Procedure Code to transfer the cases back to his court for him to preside over the trial.
Najib’s lead counsel, Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, today said Thomas was wrong in withdrawing the certificate and that Nazlan should have left it to the registry to decide which High Court judge should hear the transfer of the cases.
“Under Article 145 (3) of the Federal Constitution, the AG can only institute and discontinue proceeding. He cannot usurp the power of the judiciary,” Shafee argued.
Nazlan had also dismissed Najib’s application for a stay, which compelled him to make a fresh bid in the Court of Appeal.
Shafee said the appeal would become meaningless if the trial proceeded tomorrow.
“And if we won the appeal, the trial would also become a nullity,” he added.
Thomas submitted that the stay should be disallowed because Najib was facing serious charges and the defence was trying to stall the hearing.
He said the documents and witness statements of 26 people had also been given to the defence.
V Sithambaram, the ad-hoc deputy public prosecutor, described the postponement as “only a legal hiccup”.
“We will be able to get back on track soon,” he said.
Najib is facing six charges of money laundering and criminal breach of trust in the transfer of RM42 million into his account from former 1MDB unit SRC International.
He is also accused of abusing his power as the prime minister by giving government guarantees on SRC International’s RM4 billion loan from the Retirement Fund Inc.