Najib’s RM42m SRC trial starts next Wednesday
KUALA LUMPUR: The trial of former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak’s corruption cases involving RM42 million of SRC International Sdn Bhd funds will begin at 2 pm next Wednesday (April 3) at the High Court here.
Judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali set the date as requested by the deputy public prosecutor Datuk Suhaimi Ibrahim.
“The prosecution is ready to begin the trial, we have submitted all documents related to the cases and we have applied for the trial to begin on April 3. Witnesses’ statements have also been submitted a month ago,” Suhaimi said.
Earlier, Judge Mohd Nazlan proposed for the trial to begin on April 1, but Suhaimi said the prosecution needed time to prepare the subpoenas for the witnesses.
Suhaimi also informed the court that the prosecution was mulling writing a letter to the Chief Judge of Malaya Tan Sri Zaharah Ibrahim to give priority to the SRC case rather than to the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) case.
Lawyer Harvinderjit Singh representing Najib, on the other hand, requested for the trial to be held between May and August this year as the defence had several cases lined up for April.
The trial date was set following the decision by the Federal Court yesterday to lift the stay of proceedings order granted by the Court of Appeal to Najib, which he filed on Feb 8, to temporarily stall the trial pending disposal of his appeals over his interlocutory matters.
Chief Justice Tan Sri Richard Malanjum, who led the Federal Court seven-man panel, said the Court of Appeal did not have the jurisdiction to do so and hence, ordered the High Court to set the dates for the trial.
Judge Mohd Nazlan will set other dates later.
The trial of the SRC case was initially slated to be held from Feb 12 to March 29 but was put on hold twice after the Court of Appeal on Feb 11 and March 21 granted a stay of proceedings pending related appeals.
On July 4, 2018, the 66-year-old Najib, who is also Pekan Member of Parliament, was charged with three counts of criminal breach of trust and one charge of abusing his position involving SRC International funds amounting to RM42 million.
He was also charged with three counts of money laundering involving the same amount of money from the same funds.
Meanwhile, clad in a blue suit, Najib pleaded not guilty before High Court Judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah today to three alternative charges relating to his corruption cases involving 1MDB funds totalling RM2.28 billion.
“Understood, I plead not guilty,” the former premier said after the three alternative charges were read out to him by the court interpreter.
Earlier, former Federal Court Judge Datuk Seri Gopal Sri Ram, who is the lead prosecutor for the 1MDB case, informed the court that the prosecution had amended the sentence structure for the second and third charges, and added some facts for the fourth charge faced by Najib, who was charged with using his position to obtain gratification for himself.
The court set April 1 for case management.
Najib is facing four counts of corruption under the Malaysian AntiCorruption Commission Act and 21 counts of money laundering under the Anti-Money Laundering and AntiTerrorism Financing Act 2001 involving 1MDB funds amounting to RM2.28 billion.
He was alleged to have committed the offences at the AmIslamic Bank Berhad, No. 55, Jalan Raja Chulan, Bukit Ceylon, between 2011 and 2014.