Najib Abdul Razak's defence team foresees that the RM2.27 billion 1MDB abuse of power and money laundering trial against him may spill over into 2026 if the former prime minister is ordered to enter his defence.
Lead defence counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah mentioned this during today's separate criminal court proceedings against Najib over a RM6.6 billion criminal breach of trust (CBT) case linked to payments made to the International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC).
Last week during proceedings before the Kuala Lumpur High Court, the prosecution closed its case in the RM2.27 billion 1MDB case against Najib, with trial judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah fixing Aug 19 to 22 for oral submissions for the prosecution and defence.
After oral submissions, Sequerah would set a separate date to decide whether Najib needs to enter his defence to the four abuse of power charges and 21 money laundering counts.
If Najib is ordered to enter his defence in the 1MDB case, the defence stage of trial would begin.
However, if the court finds that the prosecution failed to raise a prima facie (answerable) case, the former premier would be discharged and acquitted of all 26 charges linked to the troubled sovereign wealth fund.
Before judge Muhammad Jamil Hussin, who is presiding over the IPIC case against Najib, Shafee (above) cited the 1MDB case as among the reasons to postpone the IPIC trial initially scheduled for today. Jamil allowed adjournment to June 19.
"If Yang Arif (Jamil) adjourns the (IPIC) case, we can break up the dates, so Yang Arif's (IPIC) case can begin.
“Otherwise, (the IPIC case) will have to wait until 2025, as the 1MDB (case) has taken up many dates, and I am confident it (the hypothetical defence stage of the 1MDB trial) can finish by 2026," Shafee informed the court.
Najib’s charges
Concerning the ongoing case presided by Sequerah, Najib is facing four charges of abuse of power and 21 counts of money laundering involving RM2.27 billion from 1MDB.
For the four abuse of power charges, the former Pekan MP allegedly committed the offences at AmIslamic Bank Bhd’s Jalan Raja Chulan branch in Bukit Ceylon, Kuala Lumpur, between Feb 24, 2011, and Dec 19, 2014.
On the 21 money laundering counts, Najib purportedly committed the offences at the same bank between March 22, 2013, and Aug 30, 2013.
1MDB was fully owned by Minister of Finance Incorporated and Najib was chairperson of the sovereign wealth fund’s board of advisers.
The accused was first charged on Sept 20, 2018, and his criminal trial began on Aug 28, 2019.
On Thursday last week, the prosecution closed its case after 50 witnesses took the stand for the prosecutors. - Mkini
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