1MDB TRIAL | Najib Abdul Razak’s defence team contended that the prosecution can either maintain or withdraw the three 1MDB criminal charges against the former prime minister.
Before the Kuala Lumpur High Court today, lead defence counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah questioned why prosecutors only chose to apply to amend the three charges this week - one for abuse of power and two for money laundering.
In questioning why prosecutors only chose to seek to amend the three out of a total of 25 criminal charges five years into the trial, the lawyer claimed that the late bid to amend the three charges is prejudicial to the accused.
Shafee told trial judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah that this is because the defence team’s legal strategy since 2018 to tackle the prosecution witnesses, was based on the unamended amount in the three charges.
In the ongoing RM2.27 billion 1MDB corruption trial against Najib, prosecutors seek to reduce the amount in one of the four abuse of power charges from RM49,930,985.70 to RM44,570,920.70.
The prosecution also seeks reduction in relation to two out of the 21 total money laundering charges: RM652,600,000 to RM515,666,277.51 for one money laundering count, and RM12,436,711.87 to RM11,411,646.34 for the other money laundering charge.
“Justice must not only come from the court. Justice must also come from the prosecutors who framed the charges in the interest of justice and thus must proffer the correct charges after thorough investigation.
"The prosecution must be conducted with fairness and not inflict unfairness on the accused."
“The application, due to the late stage and representation made after five years (into the trial since Najib was first charged in late 2018), is unfair... (it is unfair) for the prosecution to be allowed to amend and change the goal posts, which would be oppression against the accused.
“The prosecution can either maintain the current (three) charges or withdraw the three charges,” Shafee said.
Wrong amount
The lawyer added that following the 14th general election on May 9, 2018 that led to the fall of the Najib-led administration, the accused was hurriedly hauled to court to face the charges on Sept 20 that same year.
Shafee claimed that the hurried nature of hauling Najib to the criminal court led to the present situation where the wrong amount was stated in the three charges, with the trial proceeding on this premise until today.
Najib’s defence team is set to continue the oral submission tomorrow against the prosecution’s amendment bid.
It was reported that the prosecution is seeking the amendment due to the recent testimonies of two prosecution witnesses, namely Bank Negara Malaysia money trail analyst Adam Ariff Mohd Roslan and MACC money laundering investigating officer Foo Wei Min, that gave clarification on certain aspects of the case.
Najib, who is also a former finance minister, faces four counts of abuse of power and 21 counts of money laundering involving RM2.27 billion from 1MDB, a sovereign wealth fund fully owned by the Minister of Finance Incorporated (MOF Inc).
For the four abuse of power charges, the former Pekan MP is alleged to have committed the offences at AmIslamic Bank Bhd’s Jalan Raja Chulan branch in Bukit Ceylon, Kuala Lumpur, between Feb 24, 2011, and Dec 19, 2014.
On the 21 money laundering counts, the accused is purported to have committed the offences at the same bank between March 22 and Aug 30, 2013.
Deputy public prosecutors Kamal Baharin Omar and Ahmad Akram Gharib prosecuted. - Mkini
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