The Malaysian Insight

THE Kuala Lumpur High Court found no merit in the prosecution’s application to impeach Najib Razak as a witness in the SRC International trial and ordered for the cross examination of the former prime minister to continue.

After hearing submissions from both sides this morning, Justice Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali ruled against the prosecution’s application for impeachment under Section 145(1) and 155(c) of the Evidence Act 1950.

“There are no apparent material contradictions, and therefore no cause to pursue the impeachment process,” said Nazlan, before ordering cross-examination of Najib to proceed.

Earlier, when cross-examined by ad hoc prosecutor V. Sithambaram, Najib acknowledged there were contradictions between what he told the court and what he had told investigators from the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission.

Najib had acknowledged in his statement to the MACC that he had signed four documents, but he would not confirm in his witness statement later that the signatures were his on the same documents, but had merely conceded that signatures looked like his.

Sithambaram: You agree that what you told the MACC and what you have told us now is very different?

Najib: Yes, because there are reasons.

Sithambaram: I am putting it to you that your witness statement, the thick one, and the supplementary witness statement with regard to the four exhibits, when compared to the MACC statement, contained very serious and material contradictions as to whether you have seen these documents and signed these documents?

Najib: Yes.

Had Najib been impeached, his testimony would not be admitted as evidence. He could additionally be charged with perjury, which is a jailable offence.

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.