The Malaysian Insight

FORMER prime minister Najib Razak denied reports that he fell asleep during proceedings in the Court of Appeal related to the case against him linked to SRC International Sdn Bhd.

When asked to comment on reports that a police officer had to wake him up while he nodded off during the hearing, Najib said not to turn the matter into a big issue.  

“I was closing my eyes. Don’t make a big issue out of it,” he told reporters at the Parliament lobby today when asked if he really did doze off.

Najib appeared unhappy and refused to answer any more questions from the media. 

The Edge had earlier reported that Najib was seen sleeping in front of a three-member Court of Appeal bench. 

Last week, Najib walked out of the courtroom without informing his legal team, which resulted in the court standing down for 10 minutes. 

Najib walked out of the courtroom when counsel Harvinderjit Singh was giving his oral submission to judge Zabariah Mohd Yusof, who was chairing the three-man bench.

Zabariah, upon noticing that Najib was not present, interrupted Harvinderjit’s submission to ask where his client was.

When proceedings resumed, lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah apologised to the bench on Najib’s behalf, saying his client was not aware he was supposed to inform the bench if he needed to leave the courtroom. – March 18, 2019.