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Malaysia's Court of Appeal dismissed the country's former Prime Minister Najib Razak's application to appeal his conviction and sentencing involving the misappropriation of RM42 million (S$13.5 million) belonging to SRC International, Malay Mail reported.

The hearing was held through video-conferencing as Najib and several members of his legal team were allegedly in close contact with a Covid-19 positive case.

No good reason to disagree with High Court ruling

In delivering the unanimous decision, the judge, Abdul Karim, said that the judges found "no good reason" to disagree with the ruling of the High Court judges, Malaysiakini reported.

The High Court's decision from Jul. 28, 2020, found him guilty of all seven charges relating to SRC's RM42 million.

Malaysiakini also reported that the panel of judges ruled that the trial judge had correctly found that Najib was the shadow director of SRC International and "has full dominion over SRC International". 

In his judgement, Karim said that there was "no evidence that the money was from the Arab royal family and there is instead plenty of evidence showing the funds were from SRC".

Hence, the panel of judges upheld the trial judge's conviction, RM210 million (S$67.8 million) fine and 12-year jail term against Najib, dismissing his appeal.

Appealed the verdict

In response, the defence counsel has submitted a stay of execution of the RM210 million fine and 12-year jail term against Najib.

The submit for stay of execution can be for both sentencing and conviction, Najib's lawyer said.

He added that the team will be appealing the verdict to the Federal court.

According to Malaysiakini, the reason he gave was that Najib is Pekan's member of parliament.

Granted stay of execution

The judges had granted the application for stay of execution of the conviction against Najib, pending the former prime minister's appeal to the Federal Court.

Karim said that the terms of the stay are the same as that given by the High Court, namely that the bail remains at RM2 million (S$650,000) with two sureties.

Najib also has to report to the nearest police station twice a month.

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Top image via Najib Razak/Facebook