Senior lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah questioned if the prosecution is making a U-turn from “tampering” to “non-tampering” in the charge against his client, former premier Najib Abdul Razak.
"Initially, it was all about tampering. If you tamper an audit report, that means it is already final. But this is still a draft," he told reporters in the lobby of the Sessions Court in Kuala Lumpur today.
Shafee claimed that the allegation today was no longer on tampering.
"The prosecution admits that it is no longer about tampering. This is an allegation that he (Najib) directed certain things in the draft report (to be amended) while the draft was ongoing," he said.
Shafee noted that the then former auditor-general, Ambrin Buang, had said nobody asked him to do anything about the 1MDB audit report.
He also cried foul at the prosecution team for asking a bail of RM1 million to be imposed on his client for the charge, saying the team practised discrimination and unfairness.
"They asked RM500,000 bail from (former 1MDB president) Arul Kanda (Kandasamy) and went to the next door and asked RM1 million bail for Najib.
"Since Najib has paid RM5.5 million bail (for his previous cases, overall)... this is a discrimination. It's oppressive," he added.
Najib was charged in the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court in relation to the accusation that he ordered the tampering of the 1MDB audit report.
The charge stated that Najib received gratification in the form of protection from ethical, civil or criminal actions against him as a public officer in relation to 1MDB, by ordering the alteration of the final audit report before it was presented to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC).
The alleged offence was committed by Najib between Feb 22 and 26, 2016, at the Prime Minister’s Department in Putrajaya.
He is charged under Section 23(1) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Act 2009. Under Section 24 of the same Act, Najib stands to face a maximum 20 years' jail or a fine or RM10,000 if convicted.
Najib claimed trial to the charge before Sessions judge Azura Alwi.
Earlier, Arul Kanda was charged with abetting Najib in the offence, on the same day and time. - Mkini
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