Najib’s 15- day money laundering, graft trial from April 15
KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court yesterday set 15 days from April 15 next year for the trial of former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak who was charged with four counts of graft and 21 counts of money laundering involving 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) fund.
Judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah set April 15 to May 3 next year for the trial after both the prosecution led by Datuk Seri Gopal Sri Ram and the defence led by Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah agreed to the date.
During yesterday’s proceedings, Sri Ram informed the court that although 52 names had been listed as the prosecution witnesses, not all of them would be called to testify during the trial.
“A total of 390 documents have been submitted to the defence so far,” he said.
Meanwhile, without revealing the reasons, Muhammad Shafee said the defence would file an application to strike out all the charges faced by his client.
“Besides, we will also seek to disqualify the lead prosecutor Sri Ram,” he said, telling reporters later that conflict of interest was among the reasons to disqualify Sri Ram from leading the prosecution team.
On Sept 20, Najib was charged with four counts of graft under the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act and 21 counts of money laundering under the Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorism Financing Act 2001, involving the 1MDB fund of RM2.28 billion.