Dispute over hearsay issue

Former 1MDB CEO Mohd Hazem yet to take the stand

KUALA LUMPUR: A former CEO of 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) could not give his testimony in the trial yet as Datuk Seri Najib Razak, who is accused of misappropriating RM2.28bil from 1MDB’s funds, has disputed his witness’ statement as hearsay.

Mohd Hazem Abdul Rahman, who is the 10th prosecution witness, was supposed to take the stand yesterday.

However, Najib’s lead counsel Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah raised his objection on Hazem’s 118-page statement, which he alleged to be inadmissible and hearsay.

Shafee quoted some lines from the statement – which is yet to be read to the court in its entirety – where Hazem stated that fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho (better known as Jho Low) had told him (Hazem) that 1MDB was set up to channel funds to Najib’s political party, Umno.

Shafee said the defence had highlighted the lines in yellow and these lines “ought to be removed”.

“The evidence is all hearsay with perhaps one or two lines that are 50-50.

“Hazem will say ‘this is what Jho Low told me’. And if we ask him whether that is the truth, he would say ‘why don’t you ask him (Jho Low)?

“But we can’t ask Jho Low because he is not here,” Shafee added.

He then made a verbal application to have the lines omitted from the witness’ statement.

In his reply, deputy public prosecutor Ahmad Akram Gharib objected to the application and said Hazem’s statement was not hearsay.

He said the statement was admissible as it formed “part of the transaction”.

“I refer you to the charges faced by the accused. At the end of the day, this is what we are trying to prove.

“He is accused of some acts and in order for us to prove that, we have called witnesses. In doing that, they have to tell a story,” DPP Akram said.

Without the disputed paragraphs, he said it would not be a full story from the witness.

Justice Collin Lawrence Sequerah said the court would decide on the admissibility of the disputed lines before calling the witness to the stand.

He is expected to deliver his decision today.

At the height of the 1MDB scandal, not much is known about Hazem, who joined 1MDB as a COO in August 2012.

He took over as CEO from Datuk Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi on March 25, 2013, before stepping down in January 2015.

Hazem’s position was replaced by Arul Kanda Kandasamy.

Najib, 67, is facing four charges of abusing his position to obtain gratification totalling RM2.28bil in 1MDB funds and 21 counts of money laundering involving the same money.