PUTRAJAYA, April 10 — Datuk Seri Najib Razak today lost in four appeals linked to his trial over RM42 million of former 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) subsidiary SRC International Sdn Bhd.

The Federal Court today unanimously dismissed three of Najib’s appeals — including his bid for a gag order to stop the media and any person from discussing the merits of the SRC trial.

The seven-judge panel also unanimously ruled in favour of the prosecution which filed the fourth appeal — which means the Attorney-General’s Chambers is not required to produce a letter of appointment of senior criminal lawyer Datuk Sulaiman Abdullah as the lead prosecutor in the SRC case.

Chief Justice Tan Sri Richard Malanjum chaired the panel that delivered decision.

The other judges were Chief Judge of Malaya Tan Sri Zaharah Ibrahim, Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Datuk Seri David Wong Dak Wah, Tan Sri Ramly Ali, Datuk Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat, Tan Sri Idrus Harun and Datuk Nallini Pathmanathan.

Decision on four appeals

Malanjum read out the panel’s decision on Najib’s gag order bid, which the latter had previously failed at both the High Court and Court of Appeal.

Malanjum pointed out that there were no more jury trials in the country — a system which had in the past been used to justify the rule of sub judice where public discussions on ongoing court matters were barred for fear that the jury would be influenced by such comments.

“All current trials are heard by a judge sitting alone,” the chief justice said.

“Even if the gag order was refused, the appellant still has the recourse to law on defamation and contempt,” he said, noting that Najib could still sue for defamation or initiate contempt of court proceedings.

Another judge Idrus read out the brief grounds of the panel’s decision to dismiss Najib’s bid for additional documents to be delivered from the prosecution before the RM42 million trial starts.

Among other things, Idrus noted that the prosecution had already delivered to Najib’s lawyers a total of 32 volumes of documents comprising 7,000 pages that the prosecution intends to use as evidence in the trial.

Idrus noted that Najib’s lawyers were asking for additional documents that the prosecution does not intend to use in trial and which the latter was not legally obliged to give, saying that Najib’s request would effectively mean a seeking of the entire investigation paper and all witness statements given to investigators.

Najib’s trial over the RM42 million SRC International funds started on April 3, and is set to resume on April 15 until May 10.