KUALA LUMPUR: Former Treasury secretary-general Irwan Serigar Abdullah is expected to be recalled to the witness stand in Najib Razak’s 1MDB trial.
Deputy public prosecutor Ahmad Akram Gharib told the court that the prosecution could only ask for Irwan to return to give additional testimony after Justice Collin Lawrence Sequerah has ruled on the prosecution’s bid to admit an audio recording.
“We can (recall Irwan) after the defence completes its cross-examination of (former AmBank banker) Joanna Yu,” he added.
Najib’s lawyer Shafee Abdullah told the court he expects Yu’s cross-examination to take one week.
Irwan had testified in Najib’s 1MDB trial between Nov 14 and Nov 24.
The audio recording was a purported conversation between the former prime minister and a United Arab Emirates (UAE) leader.
The prosecution previously attempted to play the recording for Irwan to identify the voices on it.
However, Shafee objected to the recording being admitted into evidence, claiming that it had been illegally obtained.
The court heard submissions over four days from both the prosecution and defence over its admissibility.
Ad hoc prosecutor Gopal Sri Ram told the court that the recording was necessary to enable the prosecution “to rebut the defence that the accused (Najib) received a donation and that he thought he was dealing with monies that were donated to him”.
Meanwhile, Shafee urged the court not to admit the recording, adding that no one knew if it was recorded properly under the law.
In January 2020, then Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) chief Latheefa Koya disclosed nine audio recordings at a press conference, purportedly linked to SRC International and 1MDB.
The recordings allegedly featured Najib, his wife Rosmah Mansor, former deputy public prosecutor Dzulkifli Ahmad and several well-known individuals.
Najib is standing trial on 25 counts of money laundering and abuse of power over the alleged misuse of 1MDB funds amounting to RM2.28 billion deposited into his AmBank accounts between February 2011 and December 2014. - FMT
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