‘Admissibility of audio recording violates Najib’s right to a fair trial’

KUALA LUMPUR: The admission of an audio recording of an alleged conversation between Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and a leader from the Middle East could violate the former premier’s fundamental rights to a fair trial, the High Court heard yesterday.

Najib’s lead defence counsel, Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah submitted that should the audio recording be admitted as evidence in the former’s trial involving the alleged misappropriation of RM2.3 billion from the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) fund, it has also indirectly violated Najib’s rights to privacy as enshrined in Article 5(1) of the Federal Constitution (FC).

Speaking on the rights of a fair trial, Muhammad Shafee contended that there are concerns over the legality of the method used by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) to obtain the audio recording.

“It is perhaps appropriate at this stage to consider the matters that must be established when introducing a recording including whether the compact disc (CD) was not tampered with or altered in any way and it should be established in whose possession the CD was at all times.

“MACC may have not complied with provisions under Section 43 of its own Act on how to legally obtain the audio recording…it must be construed as unconstitutional because it infringes the accused’s rights to privacy, a right to a fair trial under Article 5(1) of the FC because the same allows the admissibility of evidence which negates the accused’s right to privacy,” said the lawyer.

The lawyer was responding to an application made by ad hoc prosecutor Datuk Seri Gopal Sri Ram, who sought to admit an audio recording to rebut the former prime minister’s defence that the monies which went into his personal bank accounts were donations.