PUTRAJAYA, Aug 19 — Datuk Seri Najib Razak dropped another bombshell at the Federal Court today, discharging the law firm Zaid Ibrahim Sufian TH Liew & Partners from acting as his solicitors in his final appeal against his conviction for power and financial abuses of SRC International Sdn Bhd.
Najib’s decision was relayed to the five-panel judge led by Chief Justice Tun Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat by his lead counsel Hisyam Teh Poh Teik, who is from a different legal firm.
“The solicitors have been discharged by the appellant,” Hisyam said in court at the start of today’s appeal hearing.
Tengku Maimun, acknowledging the latest development, then ordered ad hoc prosecutor Datuk V. Sithambaram to resume his submissions.
This is the second time Najib has abruptly discharged his legal team since the start of the SRC International trial.
He previously dropped his counsel Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah and the rest of his defence team from representing him in the case on July 25.
The next day, he appointed Hisyam as his counsel from the firm of the same name, and Liew Teck Huat and Rueben Mathiavaranam, the two partners in Ibrahim Suflan TH Liew & Partners’ as his solicitors.