Former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak's 1MDB audit tampering trial finally resumed today after another Covid-19 scare turned out to be influenza.
Yesterday, lead defence counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah had requested for a one-day postponement after Rahmat Hazlan, a member of his legal team, came down with high fever and cough.
The case was subsequently postponed pending Rahmat's test results which would take up to a day to know.
In court this morning, Shafee informed Kuala Lumpur High Court judge Mohamad Zaini Mazlan that the coast was clear.
"He had a heavy bout of influenza but he has been cleared (of Covid-19)," Shafee said.
The judge then replied: "I take your word for it, glad to hear this.”
The trial then proceeded with the cross-examination of former chief secretary to the government Ali Hamsa, who is a prosecution witness.
Najib's separate RM2.28 billion 1MDB trial also previously saw a postponement after a Covid-19 scare.
This was after his defence team received secondary exposure of a Covid-19 patient and had gone into self-quarantine as a precaution.
In the current 1MDB audit report tampering case, Najib is accused of using his position to influence the contents of the final audit report on 1MDB before it was presented to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) to purportedly prevent any action against him.
Former 1MDB CEO Arul Kanda Kandasamy is charged with abetting Najib to make the changes to the report.
The duo’s charges are framed under Section 23 (1) of the MACC Act 2009, which specifies imprisonment up to 20 years, and a fine of no less than five times the amount of gratification or RM10,000, whichever is higher, if convicted.
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