The Malaysian Insight

THE prosecution at the SRC International trial has applied to impeach Najib Razak for making contradictory statements in court compared with when he was questioned by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).

Ad hoc prosecutor V. Sithabaram told presiding judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali that the prosecution would be applying for impeachment under Section 145(1) and 155(c) of the Evidence Act 1950.

Najib, who is also the Pekan MP, never contested the authenticity of his signatures when his statement was taken by the MACC, said Sithambaram.

Earlier, the seasoned criminal lawyer cross-examined Najib on SRC International documents that he signed.

Sithambaram: Your evidence in the first witness statement (read aloud in court in December) that you did not sign four exhibits, P501, P534, D535 and P277?

Najib: Yes.

Sithambaram: And in your second (supplementary) witness statement, the gist of it is that you identified the four documents because the signature looks like your signature. That’s the crux of your explanation?

Najib: Yes.

Sithambaram: You also said “I am the one who signed the documents” in the MACC statement?

Najib: Yes.

At this juncture, Sithambaram informed Nazlan that prosecution is applying to impeach Najib.

Sithambaram: The case law is quite settled. The case law says when the application of this nature is made, what needs to be done is that the prosecution is bound to underline those statements. Your lordship needs to look at it, and if your lordship thinks it’s too trivial, we will proceed. If your lordship believes there is material contradiction, then the witness must explain himself.

Lead defence counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah objected to the application, saying it lacks good faith, or bona fide, as it pre-empts an application by the defence tomorrow to call in a handwriting expert from Australia.

Nazlan said he would allow for submissions to be made, after a short recess, before ruling on the matter.

Section 145(1) states that a witness may be cross-examined as to previous statements made by him in writing or reduced into writing, and relevant to matters in question in the suit or proceeding in which he is cross-examined, without the writing being shown to him or being proved; but if it is intended to contradict him by the writing, his attention must, before the writing can be proved, be called to those parts of it which are to be used for the purpose of contradicting him.

Section 155(c) states that the prosecution may apply to impeach the credit of a witness by proof of former statements inconsistent with any part of his evidence which is liable to be contradicted.

If Najib is impeached, his testimony would not be admitted as evidence.

The 66-year-old’s charges in the SRC International trial are linked to RM4 billion in loans issued to the entity in 2011 and 2012, for which he is accused of receiving RM42 million in 2014 and 2015. – January 6, 2020.