Najib's SRC trial to begin on Wednesday
The money laundering trial against former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak in the SRC International Sdn Bhd case is due to begin on April 3, the Kuala Lumpur High Court ruled today.
Justice Nazlan Mohd Ghazali fixed the date following the Federal Court's decision yesterday to set aside a stay order on proceedings...
The money laundering trial against former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak in the SRC International Sdn Bhd case is due to begin on April 3, the Kuala Lumpur High Court ruled today.
Justice Nazlan Mohd Ghazali fixed the date following the Federal Court's decision yesterday to set aside a stay order on proceedings.
However, subsequent dates for the trial have not been set, as Najib is also due to face trial on his 1MDB-related charges in the middle of next month.
The SRC International hearing was slated to begin on Feb 12, but had been delayed pending disposal of several appeals that were filed by Najib.
Last week, a three-member Court of Appeal had granted an application by defence counsel Harvinderjit Singh to stay the SRC International hearing.
This came after the appellate court dismissed three out of four appeals by Najib, namely to have a gag order placed upon the media to prohibit discussion of his case, wanting more documents for the case, and questioning the transfer of the case from the Sessions Court to the High Court.
However, this decision was set aside by the Federal Court yesterday, as its seven-member bench ruled that the Court of Appeal had no jurisdiction to grant a stay order of the SRC International hearing.
Argument over suitable hearing date
Prior to the High Court's decision today, Harvinderjit, who was leading the defence team in the absence of Najib's lead counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, and deputy public prosecutor Suhaimi Ibrahim, argued over the suitability of starting the trial next week.
This came after Suhaimi informed the High Court of yesterday's ruling by the apex court, and suggested that the trial should commence on April 3.
"This (April 3) was fixed in (the trial's) earlier case management.
"At the very least, (we can) start with one witness that day, then we can continue with another date," Suhaimi said.
To this, Harvinderjit told the court that Shafee has a trial on that date (April 3), followed by disposal of Najib's appeal at the Federal Court the next day, while on April 5, Shafee would have to be in court for a case against himself.
He continued by informing the court that the defence would be very much occupied for the coming weeks, as they had to attend other court cases that had been scheduled earlier, as well as prepare for the 1MDB trial which is set to take place from April 15 to May 3.
Harvinderjit said they would only have two days to prepare for this SRC International case, and thus requested that the court set another date for commencement of the hearing.
After listening to both sides, Justice Nazlan then asked the lawyers why the case could not start on Monday (April 1) instead, and queried if this date would be suitable.
However, Suhaimi informed the court that it would be too short a time for the prosecution to summon witnesses, adding that the prosecution intends to make a request to the Chief Justice of Malaya (CJM) to give priority to the SRC International hearing over the 1MDB trial.
"We are toying with the idea to write to the CJM for this case to be given priority over 1MDB. We will write to the CJM.
"Then the case can proceed at least," the DPP said.
Justice Nazlan then asked the lawyers again if they are able to start on April 1.
Suhaimi said the prosecution was unable to do so, while Harvinderjit read out the defence's schedule up to the date of 1MDB trial commencement.
Both the defence and prosecution then continued to submit their argument on a date suitable for the trial to start, before the judge ruled for the case to commence at 2pm this Wednesday.
"We will take it from there," the judge said.
Najib is facing three money laundering charges linked to SRC International for allegedly receiving illegal proceeds of RM42 million, three counts of criminal breach of trust, and one count of abuse of power for receiving the monies.
On Feb 8, the prosecution pressed three additional money laundering charges against Najib for allegedly receiving illegal proceeds amounting to RM47 million in his personal Ambank account on July 8, 2014.
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