Court to decide tomorrow whether witness statement is admissible

The High Court will decide tomorrow if the testimony of a prosecution witness should be allowed in Datuk Seri Najib Razak's 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) trial after the defence team argued that it was mostly hearsay evidence. - Photo by SAIFULLIZAN TAMADI/NSTP

KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court will decide tomorrow if the testimony of a prosecution witness should be allowed in Datuk Seri Najib Razak's 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) trial after the defence team argued that it was mostly hearsay evidence.

Counsel Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah argued that the witness statement of Mohd Hazem Abdul Rahman - who is the 10th prosecution witness in the trial - should be ruled inadmissible as it was mostly hearsay.

He said parts of the statement involving Low Taek Jho @ Jho Low and Najib's knowledge of the fugitive businessman's plan to siphon millions of Ringgit from the sovereign wealth fund was merely hearsay.

Shafee quoted a few lines from the witness statement which outlined that Jho Low had told Mohd Hazem that 1MDB was formed to inject funds to Umno when Najib was its president.

"Unless we can call Jho Low in here to be cross-examined, his (Mohd Hazem's) statement would just be hearsay.

"This hearing has been polluted with hearsay from Datuk Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi (the 9th prosecution witness) and we do not want to repeat this," he said before Deputy public prosecutor Akhram Gharib called Mohd Hazem to take the witness stand.

Shafee then made an oral application to drop certain paragraphs in Mohd Hazem's 118-page witness statement.

Ahmad Akhram objected to Shafee's arguments by stating that the witness was testifying based on their actions and experiences in the case.

"We cannot get a full story if we take out several paragraphs from the witness statement.

"It is not hearsay and is relevant as it was connected with the facts and issues of this case," he said.

Judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah will announce tomorrow if Mohd Hazem's statement can be tendered as evidence.

Mohd Hazem was the 1MDB chief operating officer before he took over as the CEO from Shahrol on March 25, 2013.

He stepped down from the post in 2015.

Najib, 67, is facing four charges of having used his position to obtain gratification totalling RM2.3 billion in 1MDB funds and 21 counts of money laundering involving the same money. - NST