THE trial of former prime minister Najib Razak, who is facing a total of 38 charges related to troubled state fund 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) and affiliated units, should be aired lived, said his lawyer Shafee Abdullah.
“I think it’s a good idea. Let people know what the trial is about,” he told reporters.
“For me, I’ve got no issue. I think everything should be transparent. Nothing to hide.”
A Change.org petition was started as early as July to communications minister Gobind Singh Deo to air the trial live. However, there were no signatories to the petition.
Earlier, Shafee shot down a request by the prosecution team, led by special prosecutor Sulaiman Abdullah, to change the venue of the trial to the Palace of Justice from the Kuala Lumpur court complex.
“They wrote a letter requesting. It was very long. We replied with a longer letter saying we shouldn’t. We should have it here (KL Court),” he said.
“This is a bigger court that in Putrajaya. You can put three Putrajaya (courts) inside. So why you want to transfer there? Putrajaya has only eight courts.
“We’ve got here, 38 high courts. And then you have 27 sessions courts. And then you have another 30 magistrate’s courts,” he said, adding that there are 12 unused courts.
“This is the bigger court,” he said.
Chief Judge of Malaya Zaharah Ibrahim will rule on the request of venue change at an undetermined date.
Today, Kuala Lumpur High Court judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali allowed the case transfer of 25 of Najib’s charges from the Sessions Court to the High Court.
Najib appeared in the dock, while wife Rosmah Mansor sat in the public gallery.
He was later greeted by shouts of “Long live Najib” by 50 supporters as he left the court.
the malaysian insight
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