Najib's 1MDB trial postponed again, attending Parliament on May 18

Najib Abdul Razak’s RM2.28 billion 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) has been postponed once more with the proceedings being vacated from May 18.

The Kuala Lumpur High Court this afternoon allowed an application by the former prime minister’s defence team which informed the court that the accused, who is the Pekan MP, needed to attend the single-day parliament sitting set for May 18.

This was confirmed by the former Umno president’s counsel Muhammad Farhan Muhammad Shafee via a text message to Malaysiakini today.

“The (1MDB) trial on May 18 has been vacated to make way for Parliament,” Farhan said, adding that Najib’s lead defence counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah made the application this afternoon.

Previously, it was reported that Najib’s 1MDB trial had been set to resume on May 18 following various postponements due to the imposition of the movement control order (MCO) nationwide since March 18 in order to curb the spread of the Covid-19 virus.

The trial had its last proceedings on March 13 before Kuala Lumpur High Court judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah.

The court had previously set March 19 to 20, March 23 to 27, March 30 to 31, April 1 to 30, May 4 to 8 and May 11 to 22 (including Fridays) for the hearing.

Other dates set were the full month of June, July, August, September and October, inclusive of Fridays.

Najib, 67, is on trial over four counts of abusing his position to obtain gratification totalling RM2.28 billion in 1MDB funds and 21 related charges of money-laundering.

All eyes are on the single-day Parliament sitting on May 18 due to whether former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s motion of no-confidence against Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin would come up during the session.

However, it was reported today that the opposition’s attempt to table the no-confidence motion against Muhyiddin may face a roadblock.

This was because de facto Parliament and law minister Takiyuddin Hassan stressed that only government matters would be prioritised during the one-day sitting.

He said outstanding matters would be brought forward to the next sitting on July 13 if time runs out before the motions from MPs can be debated. - Mkini