The hearing of former premier Najib Abdul Razak's 21 money laundering charges involving RM2.08 billion and four counts of abusing his position to obtain RM2.28 billion will be heard at the High Court.

Justice Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali today allowed the transfer of the case from the Sessions Court.

Former Federal Court judge Gopal Sri Ram, who was appointed by attorney-general Tommy Thomas as the prosecutor in the case, led the prosecution and indicated that they did not object to the transfer.

The defence team was led by senior lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah.

One of the defence counsel, Havinderjit Singh, said as there would be novel issues brought up during the trial, it was proper that the case is transferred to the High Court.

"In view of the application being not contested, the court allows the transfer," said Justice Nazlan.

Following the order on the transfer, the case will be registered with the High Court, which will then will fix a mention date and appoint a judge to hear the case.

Najib's wife Rosmah Mansor was also seen in court wearing a green baju kurung and a matching green tudung.

On Sept 20, the former prime minister had claimed trial to 25 1MDB-related charges. 

READ MORE: KiniGuide to Najib's 1MDB money-laundering, abuse of power charges

SRC International case: Defence objects transfer

Justice Nazlan was also informed that the defence objects to the prosecution's application to transfer the hearing of the SRC International Sdn Bhd related cases to Putrajaya.

Lead appointed public prosecutor, Sulaiman Abdullah told the court that the prosecution had written to the Chief Judge Of Malaya Justice Zaharah Ibrahim to transfer the case for it to be heard in Putrajaya.

Sulaiman had mentioned during the last session that this application was for security reasons as the court in Putrajaya is bigger and could accommodate a larger media presence.

However, Havinderjit said the defence objects to the transfer as the court in Kuala Lumpur had accommodated video-link court for the media to observe.

"We will await the decision by the CJ Malaya," said Sulaiman after informing Nazlan.

Havinderjit and Shafee also said that while the prosecution had handed 29 volumes of documents for the trial to the defence team on Oct 18, it is seeking further documents in the MACC's recording of statements from potential witnesses in the case.

Sulaiman said the prosecution objects to the application as they had already fulfilled all the requirements under Section 51A of the Criminal Procedure Code.

To this, Havinderjit said the defence will file a notice of motion to seek the necessary orders.

Justice Nazlan then fixed Nov 29 to hear the application.

Najib was charged with seven counts of money laundering, criminal breach of trust, abuse of power for receiving RM42 million from SRC International.

READ MORE: A guide to the 38 criminal charges against Najib

 

Judge: Najib must be present in court

The judge also ruled that Najib should be in the proceedings so that he could follow his case directly.

“I think he (the accused) should be here (in court), if the matter is not contested, then we can consider. At least the accused may directly follow the proceedings,” Justice Nazlan said.

This ruling came after Shafee applied for his client to be exempted from attending the next case management fixed for Nov 29.

The senior lawyer had asked the court to excuse his client from attending the upcoming proceedings as case management normally involved only the prosecutors and the lawyers.

Sulaiman then countered that Najib should turn up for his proceedings.

“I personally feel that in a case of this importance, the accused should attend it. We do not have an instruction for this, this is my opinion, but I leave it to the court to decide,” he said.