Najib Abdul Razak’s lead counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah contended the prosecution is ‘belly dancing’ over the defence’s bid for banking information over companies with an alleged link to former Bank Negara governor Zeti Akhtar Aziz.
The lawyer orally submitted this before the Court of Appeal today during the hearing of the former prime minister’s appeal to access these documents to bolster his defence against the ongoing RM2.28 billion 1MDB corruption case.
Najib is appealing against the Kuala Lumpur High Court’s decision on July 12 last year which dismissed his bid to get the documents in order to strengthen the defence’s contention that Bank Negara oversight may have been compromised by fugitive businessperson Low Taek Jho (Jho Low).
The impugned decision was made by Collin Lawrence Sequerah, the trial judge presiding over the graft trial of the former finance minister.
During the hearing before the three-person Court of Appeal bench chaired by Kamaludin Md Said, Shafee contended that the prosecution did not dispute the existence of the banking information while still refusing to give it to the defence team.
Shafee submitted that they need the prosecution to hand over the documents as it would help the defence prepare a “sensible” line of cross-examination when they confront Zeti on the witness stand.
It was previously reported that Zeti would be called to testify for the prosecution in the 1MDB trial against Najib.
Shafee: They (the prosecution) are dancing around us without telling us. This is belly dancing.
Kamaludin: What do you mean by belly dancing?
Shafee: They show enough but not the whole thing, hence they are dancing around us.
Chuckles could be heard in court during this exchange as Najib looked on from the dock.
‘Unfair claim’
In response, lead deputy public prosecutor Gopal Sri Ram characterised the “belly dancing” claim as unfair because Najib’s document bid was based on hearsay and inadmissible evidence, to begin with.
The former federal court judge argued that Najib’s entire discovery application was based on news reports and not verifiable independent sources.
Sri Ram pointed out that there is actually no need for this whole application as the defence team could just wait until Zeti takes the witness stand and cross-examine her over the claim linked to Jho Low.
At the end of proceedings this afternoon, Kamaludin set Dec 8 for the decision on Najib’s appeal. The other members of the bench are Ahmad Nasfy Yasin and Nordin Hassan.
Among the documents sought by Najib are ones allegedly showing Zeti’s family receiving money from Low, whom Malaysian authorities are still attempting to track down.
Najib’s discovery bid was also for United States court documents over former Goldman Sachs managing director Tim Leissner’s disclosure that he bribed several officials from 1MDB.
Previously, Malaysiakini reported Tawfiq as denying having ever received bribes.
In the ongoing 1MDB trial before Sequerah, Najib faces four counts of abuse of power and 21 counts of money laundering involving RM2.28 billion from the sovereign wealth fund.
1MDB is fully owned by the Minister of Finance Incorporated (MOF Inc).
Previously during the 1MDB trial, Najib’s defence team contended that former 1MDB CEO Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi and several others were in cahoots with Low in the whole affair, of which the former premier claimed he had no knowledge.
Leissner had pleaded guilty to a 1MDB-linked case at a US court, claiming to have bribed 1MDB officials, among other people.
He also testified at a New York court during the 1MDB-linked criminal trial against another former Goldman Sachs banker, Malaysian Roger Ng. - Mkini
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