The prosecution today informed the Kuala Lumpur High Court that it intends to cite former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak for contempt over comments he made in a Reuters interview.
In the interview published on March 4, Najib said he expected that the current atmosphere would be "more conducive towards a fair trial".
This was after the Pakatan Harapan government collapsed in late February and was replaced by a Perikatan Nasional (PN) government which includes Najib's Umno.
At the resumption of Najib's RM2.28 billion 1MDB corruption trial today, lead prosecutor Gopal Sri Ram said Najib's comment suggested that the trial was previously not fair.
"This is a very serious allegation. It means your lordship's court has an atmosphere of an unfair trial until the change of government.
"I don't want to distract your lordship in this trial with this side-way. I will advise to take out contempt proceedings against the accused as this is a very serious allegation," he said.
The trial is being presided over by High Court judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah.
Najib is facing 25 charges of money laundering and abuse of power over a sum of RM2.28 billion originating from 1MDB.
In another development, Gopal also informed the court that Najib's step-son Riza Shahriz Abdul Aziz (photo) has indicated readiness to testify as a prosecution witness.
“We may have to revise our list of witnesses because Riza Aziz has indicated his readiness to give evidence for the prosecution in the case," he said.
Riza was accused of using 1MDB-linked funds to produce Hollywood films, including the Academy Awards-nominated The Wolf of Wall Street, through his firm Red Granite Pictures.
Red Granite had since entered into a settlement with the US government which was seeking to forfeit the proceeds of the film allegedly produced using illegal funds.
Red Granite reached a settlement to the tune of US$60 million without any admission of guilt.
The money was subsequently returned to the Malaysian government.
Riza was also facing a money laundering charge involving a sum of US$248 million (RM1.07 billion) in the Malaysian courts but recently struck a settlement deal.
On May 14, Riza was granted a discharge not amounting to an acquittal (DNAA).
The MACC had since said the deal was a conditional release where the prosecution reserved the right to reinstate the charges if there is no satisfactory completion of an agreement which entailed Riza paying a sum.
"As a result, the Malaysian government is expected to recover overseas assets involved in the offence, which is estimated at US$107.3 million (RM465.3 million).
"Based on the agreement, the accused is required to pay a compound to the government under Section 92 of the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001 which is punitive as an alternative to the charges that have been brought against him," it said.
The move had courted criticisms from the opposition. - Mkini
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