PETALING JAYA: Three high-profile corruption trials involving Najib Razak and his wife Rosmah Mansor are on hold as the movement control order (MCO) will be in force until April 28.
“The moment the court resumes, the cases will proceed as scheduled,” said ad-hoc prosecutor Gopal Sri Ram who is leading the prosecution team in all the cases.
He said the prosecution would have to manage if there was a clash in the hearing dates of these cases after the MCO was lifted.
The trial was supposed to resume on April 15 but was postponed to April 29 following the extension of the MCO.
The former prime minister’s 1MDB trial is set for continued hearing on April 29 and 30.
High Court judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah had also fixed trial dates from May 4 to 22 and the entire months from June to October.
Najib faces four charges of abusing his position to obtain gratification totalling RM2.3 billion in 1MDB funds and 21 counts of money laundering involving the same money.
Najib is also facing trial before High Court judge Mohamed Zaini Mazlan for tampering with the 1MDB final audit report in 2016.
Former 1MDB CEO Arul Kanda Kandasamy is charged with abetting him.
For this case, the prosecution and the defence have to meet Zaini to fix trial dates. This is expected after the MCO is lifted.
Zaini is also hearing Rosmah’s case where she is charged with soliciting RM187.5 million from Jepak Holdings Sdn Bhd managing director Saidi Abang Samsudin as an inducement to help the company secure the solar hybrid project for 369 schools in Sarawak.
She is also accused of receiving bribes amounting to RM6.5 million from Saidi between 2016 and 2017.
“At the moment, the trial dates are only on April 29 and 30. Further dates have yet to be fixed by the court,” Sri Ram said.
Meanwhile, Najib’s SRC International trial is coming to an end as High Court judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali has fixed three days from May 18 to hear oral submissions.
Najib has been ordered to enter defence on seven charges of criminal breach of trust (CBT), abuse of power and money laundering in relation to the transfer of RM42 million to his account from SRC International.
Najib and former Treasury secretary-general Irwan Serigar Abdullah, are also facing six charges of CBT involving RM6.6 billion in government funds but the trial has been vacated to give way to the SRC trial. -FMT
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