Najib’s last-minute bid to get stay fails, SRC trial begins
That (motion) can be heard at a later date.
KUALA LUMPUR: Former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak once again failed to stall his SRC International Sdn Bhd trial after the High Court here ordered it to start yesterday as scheduled.
Justice Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali dismissed Najib’s application to have his notice of motion to declare the seven charges against him as defective to be heard first, before the commencement of the trial.
“That (motion) can be heard at a later date,” he said and ordered for the trial to begin.
At the start of the proceedings, Najib’s lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah said the defence had filed the motion yesterday morning and had e-mailed a copy to the prosecution.
“This motion ought to be heard first, today or at any time before trial starts, before we call witnesses. We have also filed a certificate of urgency this morning,” said Muhammad Shafee.
Attorney- General Tommy Thomas objected to the application, saying the motion was not served to his office properly and was filed at the eleventh hour.
“Today (yesterday) is fixed for trial, we should start the trial first. We are not ready for this as we have to reply an affidavit to the motion. There is no reason why any motion on the charges should be brought on at this stage.
“If they are saying something is wrong with the charges, they had ample time to file the motion as the case was filed against the accused in July last year.
“But certainly not this morning (yesterday). There can be no other inference from this conduct other than they are trying to delay the trial,” he said.
Co- counsel Datuk Mohd Yusof Zainal Abiden, acting for Najib, also submitted that the court should hear the motion first as the trial would become a nullity if the court was in favour of the defence and amend the charges.
Mohd Yusof, who was former Solicitor- General II and lead prosecutor in former opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s Sodomy II case, said money laundering charges and corruption offence should not and could not be preferred in the first place against his client.
“And the CBT charges are defective as they do not specify all elements of the offence and also bad for duplicity,” he said.
DPP Datuk V Sithambaram replied that the purpose of filing the motion by the defence was to adjourn the trial.
“They say the charges are bad. We say they are not bad. We run the risk if the charges are bad.
“This move is merely to delay the trial and have the trial, as they have put in their motion, stayed, struck off or postponed,” he said.
Najib, 66, who was sitting in the dock, is facing three counts of criminal breach of trust, one charge of abusing his position and three counts of money laundering over SRC International Sdn Bhd funds amounting to RM42 million.