Najib’s lawyer told to stop saying judges misguided

 

Former prime minister Najib Razak is on trial for money laundering and abuse of power over alleged 1MDB funds amounting to RM2.28 billion deposited into his AmBank accounts between February 2011 and December 2014. (Bernama pic)

KUALA LUMPUR: 

The trial judge in former prime minister Najib Razak’s 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) case today reminded the defence team that judges’ rulings were decisions of a court of law.

High Court Justice Collin Lawrence Sequerah pointed this out after Najib’s counsel, Wan Azwan Aiman Wan Fakhruddin, submitted that then High Court Judge Nazlan Ghazali relied on the wrong legal principles in deciding Najib’s SRC International Sdn Bhd’s criminal case.

At this juncture, Judge Sequerah said: “Stop saying that the judges in the High Court, Court of Appeal and Federal Court were misguided or misplaced. Those are decisions of a court of law and you should use the word ‘distinguishable’ instead of misguided.

You are entitled to your opinion but this was a decision of a court of law,

 Justice Sequerah said when Wan Azwan Aiman was making his submission at the close of the prosecution’s case.

Najib, 71, faces four charges of abusing his position to obtain RM2.3 billion from 1MDB funds at the AmIslamic Bank Berhad branch on Jalan Raja Chulan, Bukit Ceylon, between Feb 24, 2011, and Dec 19, 2014.

He also faces 21 charges laundering the same sum at the same bank between March 22, 2013, and Aug 30, 2013.

Najib is charged under Section 23(1) of the MACC Act 2009 and Section 4(1)(a) of the Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorism Financing Act.

The trial resumes on Sept 2. - FMT