PUTRAJAYA - Malaysia’s apex court on Friday dismissed former prime minister Najib Razak’s bid to review an earlier court decision affirming his graft conviction and 12-year jail sentence in a case linked to state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).

The decision was delivered by a five-member Federal Court bench chaired by Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Abdul Rahman Sebli.

This means the former Pekan MP will have to continue serving his jail term unless he secures a royal pardon from the King.

Najib had sought a review of the Federal Court’s decision that affirmed his conviction and 12-year sentence for misappropriating RM42 million (S$12.7 million) from SRC International, a former 1MDB subsidiary, claiming that he was not given a fair hearing.

He was also fined RM210 million for the offence.

In the majority 4-1 decision read out by Justice Vernon Ong Lam Kiat, the panel found there was no bias or breach of natural justice in the earlier court hearing.

“With respect, in the final analysis and having regard to all circumstances, we are constrained to say that the applicant (Najib) was the author of his own misfortunes,” Justice Ong said.

The sole dissenting judge, Datuk Abdul Rahman, said Najib was “clearly disadvantaged” at the earlier hearing when his lawyer Hisyam Teh Poh Teik’s refusal to participate in the proceedings had effectively rendered him unrepresented.

“The previous panel was wrong when preventing Hisyam from discharging himself… It appears to me there has been a miscarriage of justice,” he said.

In August 2022, Najib’s then lead counsel, Datuk Hisyam, at the final appeal in the SRC International case, had asked for a postponement of three to four months as he had taken over the case only several weeks earlier.

The request was dismissed by a five-judge panel, which was led by Chief Justice Maimun Tuan Mat.

Datuk Hisyam then tried, unsuccessfully, to discharge himself as Najib’s lawyer, after which he refused to make any submissions on Najib’s behalf.

The Federal Court subsequently upheld the conviction and sentence on Aug 23, 2022, and Najib has been incarcerated at Kajang prison since.

This review application was Najib’s last chance to challenge the verdict in court.

He has also applied for a royal pardon from Malaysia’s King, which, if granted, would see him released without serving the full 12-year term.

However, Najib still faces dozens of other charges related to the financial scandal surrounding 1MDB, including a criminal breach of trust charge involving RM6.6 billion.

Najib had also sought and failed to obtain a review of the court’s decision to dismiss his attempt to postpone his appeal hearing, as well as its decision not to recuse Tun Tengku Maimun from the Federal Court appeal due to Facebook posts made by her husband in May 2018.

Najib’s legal team argued that the posts had demonstrated her husband’s negative views of the former premier’s leadership and had concluded that he had siphoned funds from 1MDB into his personal bank account.

In addition, Najib had attempted to nullify his hearing in the High Court on the basis of trial judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali not recusing himself over an alleged conflict of interest.

This application was also dismissed.

Speaking to reporters after Friday’s decision, Najib’s lead counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah said “it is not the end of the matter” as there was a possibility of another action in court due to the dissenting view of one judge.

“It could be a review or a court procedure, as long as there are grounds,” he said, without disclosing further details.

Malaysia’s lead prosecutor V. Sithambaram said the prosecution hoped Friday’s decision would bring closure to the SRC International case.

“This decision by the Federal Court is also a vindication that the charges against Najib are legally mounted and not politically motivated,” he said.

On Jan 4, Najib petitioned the United Nations Human Rights Council’s Working Group on Arbitrary Detention to rule that the dismissal of his appeal by the Federal Court in August 2022 was unjust and flawed as he “was sent to jail without the opportunity to defend himself”.

His legal team had said that a failure to give a new set of lawyers more time to prepare – after being appointed three weeks before the appeal in the Federal Court – had unjustly punished Najib.