A-G hits out at Najib’s lawyers over witness list

KUALA LUMPUR: Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s lawyers were given an earful by Attorney-General Tommy Thomas yesterday, leading to some tense moments in the courtroom.

The visibly upset chief prosecutor in the former prime minister’s trial did not hold back when the defence first complained about the witness list and then brought up the issue of proceedings being held on Friday.

Najib’s lawyer, Harvinderjit Singh, earlier got Thomas all riled up when he said the prosecution was not sticking to the witness list given to the defence.

He said the prosecution had yet to call the chief executive officer of Retirement Fund Inc (KWAP) to take the stand although he was listed to testify on Monday.

“We were given a list last week on who was supposed to testify this week. However, on Monday, we were informed that there has been a change of direction and the witness will only be called later.”

Harvinderjit said such changes caused difficulties in the defence’s preparations and should be avoided.

Deputy public prosecutor Mohd Ashrof Adrin Kamarul explained that the witness was ready to be called on Monday but the “situation” changed. He said the witness would be called in due time.

However, this did not seem to satisfy Harvinderjit, who said he saw the witness in court on Tuesday.

Thomas stood up and rebuked the defence.

In an angry tone, he said the defence had no business dictating how the prosecution should conduct the trial.

“Nobody micromanages the trial like this. It is entirely up to our discretion on who to call and when to call them. We will not compromise on this.”

Just when everyone thought the situation was settled, the A-G became incensed again when the defence protested against the proceedings being held on a Friday.

This is because the parties had previously agreed that Friday would be considered a “day off” for lawyers to manage their other affairs as Najib’s trial is expected to continue until September, at least.

Tommy insisted that the lawyers give a replacement day for the case to go on.

He said lawyers should take the trial seriously and not continuously seek for it to be deferred.

His comments did not sit well with Harvinderjit.

“I take umbrage to what the learned A-G has said,” he said before taking his seat.

Later, there were light moments when Najib’s lead counsel, Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, said the lunch break during the fasting month was too short.

He said the 30 minutes alloted were not enough for Muslim lawyers to go to the nearby mosque, located opposite the courthouse here, to pray.

“This is the puasa month and we need to do all the good deeds as much as we can.

“I pray that instead of 30 minutes, we be given 45 minutes to do all these good deeds.”

Judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali quipped that Shafee could also perform good deeds in court.

He consented for the lunch break to be extended to 45 minutes before reminding everyone to be on time.