The criminal trial of former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak involving the alleged misappropriation of funds from SRC International Sdn Bhd enters its 44th day today at the High Court in Kuala Lumpur.
Malaysiakini brings you live reports of the proceedings.
KEY HIGHLIGHTS
- Trial adjourned for defence to study Yu's chat logs
- Court gives defence access to witness' remaining BlackBerry chats
- Bomb threat a hoax, SRC trial to resume
- Court evacuated after bomb threat
- Jho Low submitted mandate letter for Najib's account - witness
- 'Jho Low insisted Najib's credit card statements not be sent to his house'
- AmBank ex-manager: Jho Low told me Najib wanted to open account
- Prosecution wants to verify email copy tendered by defence
- Jho Low upset AmBank board told of deposits to Najib's accounts
- Jho Low was one of AmBank ex-manager's 'biggest clients'
- Jho Low and Nik Faisal told me not to disclose Najib's name - witness
- Jho Low asked AmBank ex-manager to clear BlackBerry chat logs
- Witness: Jho Low provided letter to justify deposits into Najib's accounts
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4pm - Thank you for following our live report today.
Trial adjourned to allow defence to study Yu's chat logs
3.25pm - The hearing is adjourned early today as Justice Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali allows an application by defence counsel Harvinderjit Singh to be given some time to study a new set of documents that the prosecution shared today.
This comes as the defence team finds that the documents containing BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) chat logs from Joanna Yu's phone were too much for them to digest within a 10-minute break given by the court earlier.
Yu’s phone had been confiscated by Bank Negara in 2015.
Harvinderjit tells the court that his cross-examination of Yu, a former AmBank relationship manager, had been relying on an earlier set of BBM chats and he would need time to go through the additional transcripts.
The prosecution tells the court that they do not have any objection to the defence's request.
Nazlan, in allowing the request, orders the trial to resume on Monday at 9am.
He also reminds Joanna that she cannot discuss her testimony with anyone as she is still under oath.
Court gives defence access to witness’ remaining BlackBerry chats
2.50pm - Kuala Lumpur High Court judge allows the defence's application to access remaining chat logs from a BlackBerry phone belonging to former AmBank relationship manager Joanna Yu.
Lawyer Harvinderjit Singh is allowed to have access to the logs.
Nazlan also allows DPP V Sithambaram's application that the chat logs be marked as "ID", meaning they can only be referred to during testimony, but not have their contents read out in court.
Sithambaram tells the court that the defence can now use the chat logs as preparation over the weekend to cross-examine Yu further next Monday.
When Sithambaram asks Yu whether this constitutes the remainder of the chat logs, the 54th witness confirms it is.
Bomb threat a hoax, SRC trial to resume
2.15pm - Police checks on the Kuala Lumpur Courts Complex following a bomb threat this afternoon found no explosive on the premises, says the city’s criminal investigation division chief Rusdi Md Isa.
According to him, the Taman Tun Dr Ismail police station received a call at about 11.10am today from an unidentified man who claimed there was an explosive placed at the courthouse.
"Police have taken the necessary action and found no explosive at the location," he says.
The SRC International trial is expected to resume at 2.30pm.
Court evacuated after bomb threat
12.25pm - The trial comes to an abrupt halt after Justice Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali is informed of a bomb threat.
He orders the hearing to be adjourned until authorities inspect the courts complex and clear the area.
Everyone in court is told to leave the room immediately and follow police instructions.
Jho Low submitted mandate letter for Najib's account - witness
12.20pm - The court hears that a mandate letter authorising SRC International CEO Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil to operate Najib Abdul Razak's AmBank accounts was submitted to the bank by businessperson Low Taek Jho in 2011.
Joanna Yu, a former AmBank relationship manager, testifies that she had initially received the mandate letter dated March 10, 2011 with Najib's signature on it, although it did not contain details regarding the mandated person.
According to her testimony during cross-examination by defence lawyer Harvinderjit Singh, Yu then returned the incomplete mandate letter to Low, who took some time before giving it back to her.
When asked by Harvinderjit, she confirms that she only received the letter back on Sept 22, 2011 with Nik Faisal's name and details written on it by hand.
Joanna also agrees that there is a possibility that Najib’s signature was put on the letter when the “blanks” had not yet been filled.
Harvinderjit: Could there be a possibility that the signature was put on this letter without the blanks being filled out?
Yu: Possibly.
'Jho Low insisted Najib's credit card statements not be sent to his house'
12.10pm - Fugitive businessperson Low Taek Jho insisted that Najib Abdul Razak's credit card statements not be sent to his Jalan Duta residence.
Former AmBank relationship manager Joanna Yu concurs with the excerpt of a 2011 email exchange between herself and Low, which was brought up by defence lawyer Harvinderjit Singh.
Harvinderjit: Low's response was, ‘Do not send the statement to his (Najib's) house. Super sensitive. We would collect it’.
Yu: Yes.
Harvinderjit: (Low also said) ‘Credit card statement (must) never go to the house.’
Yu: They always collected (the statements).
Harvinderjit: Low insisted?
Yu: Yes, and the mandate holder too.
Yu is referring to former SRC International CEO Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil, the mandate holder for Najib’s AmBank accounts.
AmBank ex-manager: Jho Low told me Najib wanted to open account
11.35am - The court hears from former AmBank relationship manager Joanna Yu that it was fugitive businessperson Low Taek Jho who told her that then-prime minister Najib Abdul Razak had wanted to open an account with the bank.
This supposedly happened before Jan 13, 2011.
Harvinderjit: (Regarding the) opening of this account – it was Low who communicated to you an account was proposed to be opened under Datuk Seri’s (Najib) name in AmBank?
Yu: That Datuk Seri wanted to open a bank account, yes.
Harvinderjit: He communicated (this) to you?
Yu: He asked if Datuk Seri want to open (an account), what it would entail.
Prosecution wants to verify email copy tendered by defence
11.20am - Deputy public prosecutor V Sithambaram objects to defence counsel Harvinderjit Singh's attempt to have a photocopy of an email marked as defence evidence.
The email contains a series of conversations which purportedly took place in 2014 between fugitive businessperson Low Taek Jho and then-AmBank relationship manager Joanna Yu.
Sithambaram (photo) tells the court that this was the first time the prosecution had seen the document, and they did not know its source and where it was obtained from.
He says that simple verification, such as the witness saying "maybe", would not be enough for the document to be accepted as evidence yet.
"This is just a photocopy. We don’t know where this comes from, and we want context.
"We want to check on our end, My Lord. This happened way before the BlackBerry (chats) that was produced," says Sithambaram.
To this, Harvinderjit says that it should suffice to mark the evidence by having the witness say 'yes' to acknowledge the document's authenticity.
He adds that the court should mark the email copy as 'D', which is code for defence evidence, and that the prosecution can examine it and raise their case later.
Justice Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali then rules that the email be marked as 'IDD' instead of 'D'.
For the record, 'IDD' refers to exhibits which have been brought up in a hearing but have yet to be verified and confirmed, and are thus inadmissible as evidence until then.
Jho Low upset AmBank board told of deposits to Najib's accounts
10.35am - Fugitive businessperson Low Taek Jho was not happy when then-AmBank CEO Ashok Ramamurthy brought up the matter of flagged inflows into Najib Abdul Razak's bank accounts with the bank's board.
This is what former AmBank relationship manager Joanna Yu says to a question from lawyer Harvinderjit Singh.
Harvinderjit is referring to chat logs between her and Low in Oct 2014, around the time when bad press began to emerge around the issue of 1MDB and Najib's accounts.
Harvinderjit: These accounts were flagged by Ashok?
Yu: Yes.
Harvinderjit: Ashok raised it at board level and Low was not happy?
Yu: He asked why Najib's accounts were put to the board.
Harvinderjit: If they were a genuine gift, it would not have been an issue?
Yu: The bank still (needs) to report.
10.20am - Tanjong Karang MP Noh Omar enters the court and takes a seat directly behind the dock.
The Umno lawmaker then shakes hands with Najib Abdul Razak, who is sitting in the dock, while proceedings are ongoing.
Jho Low was one of AmBank ex-manager's 'biggest clients'
9.54am - Former AmBank relationship manager Joanna Yu testifies that fugitive businessperson Low Taek Jho had been one of the commercial bank's “bigger clients”.
"He was one of the bank's bigger clients," she tells lawyer Harvinderjit Singh. Yu added that Low was also her biggest client.
Jho Low and Nik Faisal told me not to disclose Najib's name - witness
9.32am - Former AmBank relationship manager Joanna Yu agrees that fugitive businessperson Low Taek Jho and former SRC International CEO Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil told her not to disclose Najib Abdul Razak’s name whenever there were funds coming into his AmBank account.
During cross-examination, lawyer Harvinderjit Singh asks the 54th witness whether she was informed by Low and Nik Faisal, who was also then premier Najib's mandate holder for the accounts, that Najib's name need not be disclosed.
Yu: Yes, we were told we cannot list Datuk Seri (Najib's) name.
Harvinderjit: You were told by Low that it involves huge confidentiality of exposed person, so not to expose the name?
Yu: I was told that by Low.
Jho Low asked AmBank ex-manager to clear BlackBerry chat logs
9.20am - The hearing starts with defence counsel Harvinderjit Singh scrutinising BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) chat transcripts with former AmBank relationship manager Joanna Yu.
The court hears about one of the chats Yu had with businessperson Low Taek Jho in which the latter asked her to clear her BBM chat logs.
This happened on the morning of March 3, 2015, according to the transcript read out by Harvinderjit.
Yu then confirms this conversation, but says that she did not comply with Low’s instruction.
"Yes (Low told me to clear BBM chat logs), but I never did. Because I don't know how to," she testifies.
Yu disagrees that she had cleared her BBM chat logs after March 2015, and says conversations conducted through the application should have been in her BlackBerry which was confiscated by Bank Negara later that same year.
Witness: Jho Low provided letter to justify deposits into Najib's accounts
9.15am - The court hears from former AmBank relationship manager Joanna Yu that fugitive businessperson Low Taek Jho provided letters to justify deposits into Najib Abdul Razak's accounts.
Under cross-examination by defence counsel Harvinderjit Singh, she confirms that she had received a total of four letters in 2014 as supporting documents for credits into Najib's AmBank accounts with the ending numbers 694 and 880.
Yu says that she had given all the letters to then AmBank Group director Cheah Tek Kuang, who is also a former managing director of the group.
However, she is unsure whether Cheah had shown the letters to then-Bank Negara governor Zeti Akhtar Aziz.
Harvinderjit: As far as you are concerned, you did give all the letters to Cheah?
Yu: Yes.
Harvinderjit: Your understanding was that he had shown these to the (Bank Negara) governor?
Yu: I know he met (her) but I don't know what transpired in the meeting.
The witness also confirms a BBM conversation between Low and her on June 20, 2014, where he told Yu to show the letters to Cheah, so that the AmBank Group director could let the Bank Negara governor know about the documents.
9am - The accused, Najib Abdul Razak, enters court and takes a seat in the front row of the public gallery to await the start of proceedings.
Also seen in court is his lawyer Harvinderjit Singh and other members of the defence team, as well as Attorney-General Tommy Thomas, DPP V Sithambaram and other DPPs.
The 44th day of Najib Abdul Razak's SRC International trial is set to proceed this morning, following yesterday's unprecedented postponement due to one of the former prime minister's lawyers, Harvinderjit Singh, being unwell.
Kuala Lumpur High Court judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali made it clear yesterday that the defence must make arrangements for other members of the team to cross-examine 54th prosecution witness Joanna Yu today, in the event that Harvinderjit is still on sick leave.
Yesterday was a stark contrast to the usual proceedings, as only two of Najib's junior lawyers Syahirah Hanafiah and Wan Aizuddin Wan Mohammed were present in court, with former AmBank relationship manager Yu looking on from the witness stand.
Wan Aizuddin informed Nazlan that not only was Harvinderjit too sick to attend court, but that Najib's lead counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah was preoccupied with wrapping up cases being heard before another Kuala Lumpur High Court judge, Su Geok Yiam, before her retirement at the end of the month.
When Nazlan queried why Najib's other lawyers could not handle the cross-examination, Wan Aizuddin said it was because they received no instructions about it.
After reminding the two lawyers of the need for alternative arrangements, Nazlan allowed proceedings to be postponed until today.
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