Najib's SRC civil suit trial postponed to June 19

KUALA LUMPUR - The trial of the SRC International Sdn Bhd civil suit against former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and former chief executive officer of the company, Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil has been postponed to June 19 at the High Court here.

Justice Datuk Ahmad Fairuz Zainol Abidin adjourned the date after Najib's counsel Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah informed the court that his son Muhammad Farhan, who is conducting the case is unable to attend the proceeding today due to the cancellation of his flight from London.

"As I have informed the court during the last proceeding, Muhammad Farhan is overseas because of a family emergency.

"Most of the materials (for the trial) are in fact with Farhan and he is supposed to brief me on specific documents for the cross-examination of Datuk Suboh Md Yassin. I propose that the cross-examination be undertaken on June 19 and 20, which had been earlier agreed on,” the counsel said.

Shafee also said that he wants to commence his cross-examination of Suboh immediately after the former SRC director reads his prepared witness statement.

SRC, under its new management, filed the suit in May 2021, claiming that Najib had committed a breach of trust and power abuse, personally benefited from the company’s funds, and misappropriated the said funds.

It also seeks a court declaration that Najib is responsible for the company's losses due to his breach of duties and trust and for Najib to pay back the RM42 million in losses that they have suffered.

Najib, 70, has been serving a jail sentence at the Kajang Prison since Aug 23, 2022, after being convicted of misappropriating RM42 million in SRC International funds.

He then filed a petition for a royal pardon on Sept 2, 2022, and the Pardons Board on Jan 29 reduced Najib’s jail term from 12 years to six, with the fine cut to RM50 million from RM210 million. - BERNAMA