The Malaysian Insight

FORMER prime minister Najib Razak is seeking to postpone his 1MDB audit tampering trial to next year, according to documents filed to court yesterday.

The trial, where Najib will be jointly tried with former 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) chief executive officer (CEO) Arul Kanda Kandasamy, is slated to begin on Monday.

In a notice of motion filed yesterday, Najib sought to push the starting date to January 13 next year, saying his legal team needs time to prepare for the defence stage of the SRC International trial, where Najib is accused of receiving RM42 million in his personal accounts in 2014 and 2015.

“My appointed legal representatives and myself require time. The commencement of the PAC case (audit report tampering) trial in November 2019 would deprive me and my legal team the opportunity of adequately and effectively preparing my defence case,” he said in his affidavit in support of the motion.

Najib said the same legal team also represented him in the ongoing 1MDB trial, where the former prime minister faces 25 criminal charges linked to RM2.28 billion in public funds.

Kuala Lumpur High Court Judge Mohd Zaini Mazlan, who presides over the 1MDB audit tampering trial, dismissed an application by the prosecution to delay the trial earlier this week.

The prosecution had requested for the case to be deferred as former 1MDB CEO Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi is a witness in the ongoing 1MDB trial and would not be able to take the stand yet.

Zaini told the lawyers he is “hard pressed” to find other dates.

Trial dates have been fixed from November 18 to 29, and from January 13 and 17, next year.

Najib has five criminal cases and they cannot go on simultaneously as he has to be present at court to ensure a fair trial.

He is charged with abuse of power over the alleged removal of parts of the final 1MDB audit report between February 22 and 26, 2016 at the Prime Minister’s Office in Putrajaya.

Najib is accused of using his position as prime minister to obtain gratification in the form of disciplinary, civil and criminal immunity related to 1MDB by ordering the amendments to the audit report before the finalised copy was presented to the Public Accounts Committee.

The offence under Section 23(1) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Act is punishable with a penalty of maximum 20 years in jail, and a fine of at least five times the amount of gratification or RM10,000, or whichever is higher.

Arul Kanda is charged with abetment. It carries the same penalty as Najib’s. – November 14, 2019.