Parts of Tony Pua’s witness statement expunged in 1MDB civil trial

 The High Court rules that several paragraphs in Tony Pua's witness statement amounted to opinion or hearsay and ordered them struck out.

Tony Pua was called as a witness in 1MDB’s US$5.64 billion civil suit against former prime minister Najib Razak in his capacity as a former Public Accounts Committee member.

KUALA LUMPUR:

The High Court today expunged parts of former Damansara MP Tony Pua’s witness statement in the US$5.64 billion 1MDB civil suit against former prime minister Najib Razak.

Judicial Commissioner Redzuan Idrus allowed an application by Najib’s lead counsel Shafee Abdullah to strike out several paragraphs after ruling that they contained opinion and hearsay.

The expunged passages primarily referred to media reports on the 1MDB scandal during Najib’s administration, including several articles published by Sarawak Report.

The court spent nearly seven hours hearing and ruling on each of Shafee’s objections as Pua read out his witness statement.

Shafee argued that Pua, who was called as a witness in his capacity as a former Public Accounts Committee (PAC) member, had relied on media reports to suggest that Najib or the government had attempted to obstruct efforts to uncover the 1MDB scandal.

“That amounts to an assertion of fact which must be proven by direct evidence, not by newspaper reports,” he submitted.

The court also upheld Shafee’s objection to Pua’s statements concerning former attorney-general Abdul Gani Patail, ruling that they constituted hearsay, and struck out paragraphs referring to media reports about Gani.

It similarly expunged Pua’s remarks on the Cabinet reshuffle that led to the removal of then deputy prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin.

The court further accepted submissions by counsel GK Ganesan, who represents former 1MDB director of investments Kelvin Tan, that the use of the word “scandal” in reference to 1MDB was loaded and prejudicial, and ordered it to be removed from the witness statement.

Another paragraph relating to Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) was struck out after the court found that Pua was not part of the central bank’s investigation team.

A separate paragraph on the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission’s (MACC) investigation was also removed as Pua had no direct involvement in the agency’s probe.

Pua was called to testify on key events surrounding the 1MDB affair, particularly the political climate in Malaysia during the relevant period.

1MDB is seeking to recover about US$5.64 billion from Najib and several others, alleging that the funds were misappropriated.

The sovereign wealth fund and its four subsidiaries — 1MDB Energy Holdings Ltd, 1MDB Energy Ltd, 1MDB Energy (Langat) Ltd and Global Diversified Investment Company Ltd — filed the suit on May 7, 2021.

The suit also names former 1MDB chief executive officer Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil, former executive director of business development Casey Tang, former deputy chief financial officer Terence Geh, former chief investment officer Vincent Beng, former chief operating officer Radhi Mohamad and Tan as defendants.

Counsel Lee Shih and Nathalie Ker appeared for the plaintiffs.

The hearing will resume on Aug 10, when the court will continue hearing objections to the remainder of Pua’s witness statement. - FMT