Najib seeks to strike out three SRC money-laundering charges

Najib Abdul Razak will file an application to strike out the three money-laundering charges involving RM27 million from SRC International Sdn Bhd.

The former prime minister’s lead counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah informed High Court judge Mohamed Zaini Mazlan this during the mention of Najib’s RM27 million money-laundering case in Kuala Lumpur this morning.d

“The three charges are not predicated offences, that is why we expect to seek to strike (them out).

“These three charges were piggy riding on the seven charges before Justice (Mohd) Nazlan (Mohd Ghazali) in the High Court, but were knocked out of the way (from being heard jointly with the RM27 million case) due to procedural matters.

“We will make that application,” Shafee told Justice Zaini as Najib looked on from the dock.

Predicated offences are crimes underlying money-laundering activity.

DPP Budiman Lutfi Mohamed then stood up and informed the court that the prosecution will challenge the striking-out bid against the three charges under the Anti-Money Laundering Act (Amla).

“The three Amla charges are valid and we will challenge (the striking-out bid) when properly filed (by Najib’s defence team,” Budiman said.

Earlier today, Budiman told the judge that the prosecution has instructions to proceed with the RM27 million Amla case.

“My instruction is to seek trial dates for this matter... 14 days estimated (needed) for the three Amla charges.

“If we can ask for longer (trial dates), it would be great,” he said.

Shafee said that while 14 days are acceptable, he sought for the trial dates to not include Fridays as the lawyers would have to attend to other out-of-court official matters on those days during Ramadan.

Justice Zaini then set the first day trial for the RM27 million case for June 2 next year.

The judge also set June 3, 4, 9 to 11, 15 to 18, and 23 to 25 for trial.

Justice Zaini also fixed June 21 this year for case management of the case.

Previously, in a mention of the RM27 million case, it was reported that the judge had told the prosecution to decide whether they wished to proceed with the matter.

This is because Najib is currently before Justice Nazlan’s court, being tried on a charge of abuse of power, three charges of criminal breach of trust, and three money-laundering charges involving RM42 million from SRC International.

However, due to procedural issues, the prosecution did not manage to successfully get the RM27 million case jointly heard with the RM42 million case before the latter matter went to the ongoing trial.

For the three Amla charges involving RM27 million, Najib is accused of committing the offences at AmIslamic Bank Berhad, Bangunan AmBank Group, No 55, Jalan Raja Chulan, on July 8, 2014.

Najib was charged with the three charges at the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court on Feb 8, but the matter was later transferred to the High Court.

When met after proceedings, Shafee said the defence seeks to strike out the three money- laundering charges as there are no related predicate offences to prove the proceeds had indeed been illegal.

“All Amla offences must have predicate offences, which must prove that the confiscated material was related to a criminal act, that the proceeds were criminal (in nature).

“Here, there is no predicate offence, just Amla ones. The other seven charges got predicate offences,” Shafee said.

The veteran lawyer was referring to Najib’s ongoing trial for seven charges involving RM42 million from SRC International.

In that particular matter, Najib not only faced three money-laundering charges but also three charges of CBT and one for abuse of power related to the RM42 million.

On when the defence would be filing the striking-out bid, Shafee said they would first need to get relevant documents pertaining to the RM27 million case under Section 51A of the Criminal Procedure Code.

Meanwhile, during the mention of Najib’s RM42 million SRC International case before Justice Nazlan, DPP V Sithambaram said the prosecution will call 40 more witnesses.

“We expect to call 40 more witnesses,” Sithambaram replied when asked by the judge.

So far, over the course of the 18 days of hearing of the RM42 million SRC International case, 37 witnesses have been called, with the current 37th witness being Ihsan Perdana Sdn Bhd’s managing director Dr Shamsul Anwar Sulaiman.

The judge then finalised the dates for May 28 and 29, June 10 to 14, 17 to 21, July 1 to 3, whereby the June 14 and 21 dates are set as only half-day proceedings in the morning due to them being Fridays.

Justice Nazlan also set further trial dates from July 8 until Aug 15, with the understanding that the Fridays within that period will not have trial proceedings.

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