NAJIB 1MDB TRIAL | The Health Ministry has ordered veteran lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah to undergo quarantine pending the result of Covid-19 testing by latest tomorrow.
This was revealed by lawyer Noor Farhah Mustaffa when she produced a letter from the Health Ministry and another letter from private hospital KPJ Damansara to Kuala Lumpur High Court judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah during mention of Najib Abdul Razak’s RM2.28 billion 1MDB case this morning.
Yesterday, Sequerah directed Farhah to produce documents confirming that Shafee was ordered to undergo quarantine following contact with a person suspected of having come in close contact with a Covid-19 positive person.
As a result, former premier Najib’s trial, which had been on hiatus for four months, could not resume yesterday.
During open court proceedings today, as Najib looked on from the dock, Shafee’s counsel Farhah informed Sequerah that Shafee and another lawyer whom he worked closely with had checked themselves at KPJ Damansara yesterday for Covid-19 testing.
The lawyer said KPJ Damansara’s medical officer directed Shafee and the other lawyer to quarantine themselves until the result of the Covid-19 testing comes out either this afternoon or latest tomorrow.
Farhah informed the court that the rest of Shafee’s legal team would also be getting Covid-19 testing soon, because yesterday they were unable to get testing done at Tanglin Health Clinic at Kuala Lumpur, due to the test kit running out, among others.
At this juncture, DPP Ahmad Akram Gharib informed the court that the prosecution has no objection to Najib’s defence application for postponement of the RM2.28 billion 1MDB trial.
The DPP added that he and the rest of the 1MDB prosecution team would be also undergoing Covid-19 testing today.
“(The testing is due to concern of) Secondary to secondary (infection risk),” Akram said.
Sequerah (photo) then allowed the application to vacate the trial today and for it to resume full day on Thursday and Friday next week, subject to the outcome of the Covid-19 testing on Shafee as well as the prosecution team.
The judge then directed Farhah to update him the result of Shafee’s Covid-19 testing by Monday next week, in order to help the court determine whether the trial can really proceed on Thursday and Friday next week.
Yesterday was initially set for the resumption of the defence’s cross-examination of the ninth prosecution witness, former 1MDB CEO Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi, following a four-month hiatus of proceedings.
Shahrol has been on the witness stand for 22 days. He has been cross-examined by the defence for 15 days.
Najib is on trial for four charges of abuse of power and 21 counts of money laundering in relation to RM2.28 billion which allegedly originated from troubled sovereign wealth fund 1MDB, via Tanore Finance Corporation.
Tanore Finance is purportedly owned by Eric Tan, an alleged associate of wanted 1MDB-linked businessperson Low Taek Jho or Jho Low.
Keep up with the latest information on the outbreak in the country with Malaysiakini's free Covid-19 tracker. - Mkini
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