Najib's defence fails to grill witness over signatures in bank transfers

 

1MDB TRIAL | Najib Abdul Razak’s defence team today tried to grill former 1MDB CEO Mohd Hazem Abdul Rahman over the validity of signatures on key bank documents for millions of ringgit of transfers.

However, during the RM2.28 billion 1MDB corruption trial against the former prime minister, the prosecution objected to the question as the 10th prosecution witness is not a handwriting witness.

Kuala Lumpur High Court judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah then told Najib’s defence that they can raise the issue during oral submissions toward the end of the prosecution stage of the trial.

The accused’s defence counsel, Wan Aizuddin Wan Mohammed, was trying to get Hazem to compare the curves, shapes and sizes of the signatures on transfer instructions involving millions of ringgit from 1MDB Global Investments Limited (1MDB-GIL) to several other entities.

The line of questioning was over the signatures of 1MDB chief financial officer (CFO) Azmi Tahir and the sovereign wealth fund’s executive director of finance Terence Geh.

In the prosecution’s opening statement in Najib’s RM2.28 billion case in 2019, it was contended that the monetary transfers out of 1MDB-GIL were part of an elaborate charade to allow Najib to obtain gratification that spanned four phases over several years.

Among these is the alleged outflow of millions of ringgit of funds from 1MDB-GIL to two entities, among them being Cystenique Investment Fund and Devonshire Funds Limited.

During Aizuddin’s cross-examination, Hazem had testified that he, as then 1MDB CEO, was not aware of the purported transfers of millions of ringgit from 1MDB-GIL to the two entities.

The bank documents, shown to Hazem by Aizuddin, purportedly showed the signatures of Azmi and Geh, the two authorised signatories for 1MDB-GIL.

Najib’s defence team had constantly relied on the allegation that the monetary transfers were masterminded by 1MDB-linked fugitive Low Taek Jho or Jho Low, without the knowledge of Najib.

Aizuddin: Refer to the signature, is that Azmi’s signature?

Hazem: It is Azmi’s.

Aizuddin: Is that Terence Geh’s signature?

Hazem: Yes.

Aizuddin: If you look at the transfer instructions, can you confirm all the signatures are identical, the curve, the shape, the size?

Kuala Lumpur High Court judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah

However at this juncture, deputy public prosecutor Ahmad Akram Gharib raised objection to the line of questioning as Hazem is not a handwriting expert.

Aizuddin then countered that he was merely trying to get the witness to answer whether he (Hazem) was familiar with Azmi and Geh’s signatures on the transfer instructions.

However, Sequerah concurred with the prosecution’s objection that Hazem is in no position to answer the in-depth question about the signatures.

“He (Hazem) already said he was familiar (with the signatures) as he is used to seeing it. But asking him to compare, though, would place him in an unfamiliar position, which is that of an expert.

“The way the signatures are crafted, that is beyond his expertise,” the judge said.

Proceedings will resume before Sequerah tomorrow morning.

Najib is on trial for four counts of abuse of power and 21 counts of money laundering involving RM2.28 billion of 1MDB's funds.

Besides being the former prime minister, the accused also used to be the finance minister and chairperson of 1MDB’s board of advisers.

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