The criminal trial of former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak involving the alleged abuse of power and money laundering of 1MDB funds enters its 36th day today at the High Court in Kuala Lumpur.
Malaysiakini brings you live reports of the proceedings.
Media, DPP take seats in courtroom
1.30pm - Members of the media started entering the courtroom and taking their seats, which had been rearranged to comply with the Health Ministry's guidelines for Covid-19 prevention.
DPP Ahmad Akram Gharib is also seen in the courtroom to fix seatings for lead DPP Gopal Sri Ram and other members of their team.
Meanwhile, the Kuala Lumpur Courts Complex management has also opened two videolink rooms for journalists to monitor the trial through a live feed.
After numerous postponements due to the ongoing movement control order (MCO) among others, the 36th day of former premier Najib Abdul Razak’s trial on the RM2.28 billion 1MDB case is set to resume this afternoon.
The accused’s trial, of over 21 money laundering charges and four abuse of power charges involving RM2.28 billion of 1MDB funds, is fixed before Kuala Lumpur High Court judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah at 2pm today.
Proceedings are expected to resume with the defence, led by veteran lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, to continue cross-examination of the ninth prosecution witness which is the former 1MDB CEO Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi.
The last time that Shahrol gave oral evidence while under cross-examination was on Nov 11 last year.
However, following numerous postponements since then, the trial was not able to resume until this afternoon.
Among the reasons for postponements were Shahrol and Shafee being on medical leave; Shafee needing to help prepare for his son’s wedding; Shafee and the rest of the defence team going under self-imposed quarantine linked to the Covid-19 pandemic; the nationwide imposition of the MCO on March 18; and Najib needing to attend the single-day Parliament sitting on May 18.
Courts nationwide postponed all trials and hearings when the government imposed the MCO as part of efforts to curb the spread of Covid-19.
Courts only began resuming operation in stages from May 13 as the government relaxed restrictions to allow the economy to gradually reopen as part of the now conditional MCO.
Aside from the above postponement reasons, Najib's other various ongoing criminal trials, such as his RM42 million SRC International case and his 1MDB audit report case between late last year and early this year, only allowed the court to hear his RM2.28 billion 1MDB case this afternoon. - Mkini
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