The prosecution has closed its case against Najib Abdul Razak and Arul Kanda Kandasamy over alleged amendments to the audit report of the Malaysian sovereign wealth fund 1MDB.
Lead deputy public prosecutor Gopal Sri Ram informed the Kuala Lumpur High Court that the prosecution has rested its case against the former prime minister and the former 1MDB CEO.
The prosecution this afternoon closed its case after it called 16 witnesses to testify, which included star witness Arul.
Previously, the prosecution was allowed to call Arul to testify against former finance minister Najib.
Trial judge Mohamed Zaini Mazlan will decide at the end of the prosecution’s case not only on whether to order Najib to enter his defence but on whether co-accused Arul would be fully-acquitted or granted a discharge not amounting to an acquittal (DNAA).
The judge will decide what is to happen to Arul after the court has considered the strength of his testimony.
Under Section 63 of the MACC Act, the court is empowered to grant a certificate of indemnity to such witnesses who gave their true and full discovery of all things, whereby the certificate shall be a bar to all legal proceedings over such matters.
During open-court proceedings today, Zaini set Oct 7 and 14 for parties to file written submissions and for them to come before the court for oral clarifications on Oct 28.
Sri Ram had also informed that the prosecution is offering 18 witnesses to the defence teams of both Najib and Arul.
Ali Hamsa, Ambrin Buang testified
Since the trial began on Nov 18, 2019, spanning 43 days, among others who took the witness stand for the prosecution are former chief secretary to the government Ali Hamsa, former auditor-generals Ambrin Buang and Madinah Mohamad, National Audit Department officer Nor Salwani Muhammad, and Najib’s former principal private secretary Shukry Mohd Salleh.
Nor Salwani had previously testified having saved a copy of the original 1MDB audit report from being destroyed, before the alleged modifications were effected on the report to be tabled before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) in 2016.
Najib is charged with using his position as then prime minister to order amendments to 1MDB’s final audit report before it was presented to the PAC to prevent any action against him.
Arul was charged with abetting the then premier in making the amendments.
The charges are framed under Section 23 (1) of the MACC Act 2009, which specifies a jail term of up to 20 years and a fine of no less than five times the amount of gratification, or RM10,000, whichever is higher.
The prosecution contended that following a meeting on Feb 24, 2016, a decision was made to remove or alter certain portions of the 1MDB audit report, including dropping the presence of fugitive businessperson Low Taek Jho (Jho Low) at the fund’s board meetings.
Another issue that was allegedly dropped from the audit report was the two conflicting 2014 financial statements of the sovereign wealth fund.
Besides Arul and Ali, others who were present at the meeting were Ambrin, former National Audit Department officer Saadatul Nafisah Bashir Ahmad, Shukry, and then Attorney-General’s Chambers representative Dzulkifli Ahmad. - Mkini
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