Several documents protected under the Official Secrets Act (OSA) will be declassified so that they can be used in the trial of former premier Najib Abdul Razak and former Treasury secretary-general Irwan Serigar Abdullah, who are both facing RM6.6 billion criminal breach of trust charges.
Lead prosecutor Gopal Sri Ram revealed this when Irwan’s lawyer K Kumaraendran requested for all documents to be served to them before the next fixed date for case management on Dec 7.
“We cannot accommodate that request because several of the documents are under OSA … and it takes time to go through the declassification process,” Sri Ram said in the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court before judge Azman Ahmad today.
Sri Ram, who is a former Federal Court judge, said that the prosecution is currently in the process of serving 224 documents to the defence counsel, which represents about 70 to 80 percent of all documents they intend to tender in the trial.
Najib and Irwan had earlier filed an application to transfer the case to the High Court, which will be heard before the registrar tomorrow.
Najib is represented by lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, while Irwan is represented by K Kumaraendran and Geethan Ram Vincent.
Najib and Irwan were charged on Oct 25 with six counts of CBT of RM6,636,065,000 of funds belonging to the government.
They were alleged to have committed all the offences at the Finance Ministry Complex in Putrajaya between Dec 21, 2016 and Dec 18, 2017.
They were charged under Section 409 of the Penal Code, read together with Section 34 of the same code, which provides for a maximum jail term of 20 years and whipping, and liable to fine, if found guilty.
MKINI
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