Prosecution to call Arul Kanda as witness against Najib

AUDIT TAMPERING TRIAL | The prosecution will call former 1MDB CEO Arul Kanda Kandasamy to the stand in the audit tampering trial against former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak.

This was revealed in DPP Gopal Sri Ram's opening statement today. Najib and Arul Kanda are being tried together.

Najib stood accused of orchestrating the tampering of the Auditor-General's report on 1MDB in 2016 and Arul Kanda is accused of abetting the crime.

Gopal said the prosecution will prove to the court that the crime took place at a meeting, convened by Najib, on Feb 24, 2016. 

"The accused Arul Kanda by his conduct, preceding the meeting in question, at that meeting and following it, abetted the accused in this transaction.

"I am duty-bound to inform the court that at the appropriate stage the public prosecutor will apply in writing under Section 63 of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Act to call the accused Arul Kanda to give evidence on the prosecution's behalf.

"We will be addressing the court on this part of the case at the appropriate stage," said Gopal.

Gopal said the court will likely hear evidence from witnesses that will display "obvious bias" in favour of the accused.

"Their evidence is necessary for the unfolding of our case. We will at the appropriate stage address the court on the way in which the evidence of such witnesses is to the evaluated," he said.

Najib has been accused of ordering the audit report to be amended, despite being an interested party before it was presented to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) in 2016.

The prosecution has framed the charge under Section 23 (1) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Act 2009 (offence of using office or position for gratification).

If found guilty, Najib can be jailed up to 20 years and fined up to RM10,000.

Arul Kanda stood accused of abetting Najib. If found guilty, he faces the same penalties as Najib.

Meanwhile during a break between proceedings today, Arul Kanda's lead defence counsel N Sivananthan told Malaysiakini that they would only agree to the prosecution's bid to call Arul Kanda to testify against Najib, if the prosecution gives an undertaking to withdraw the abetment charge against Arul Kanda.

The lawyer said that this is because the wording of Section 63 of the MACC Act seemed to suggest that in the event that a co-accused is called to testify against the other accused, then after the co-accused has testified, the charge against said co-accused would be withdrawn.

"The Section (63 of MACC Act) suggests that the withdrawal (of the abetment charge against Arul Kanda) should take place after he has completed his testimony, although the discretion to allow the prosecution's application is with the judge.

"I would agree (to the prosecution’s bid to call Arul Kanda to testify against Najib) only if the prosecution undertakes to withdraw the charge against Arul (Kanda) upon completion of his testimony," Sivananthan said.

Section 63 (1) of the MACC Act states that whenever two or more persons are charged with an offence under this Act, the court may, on an application in writing by the Public Prosecutor, require one or more of them to give evidence as a witness or witnesses for the prosecution

Section 63 (3) further states that every person giving evidence under sub-section (1) who, in the opinion of the court, makes a true and full discovery of all things as to which he is lawfully examined, shall be entitled to receive a certificate of indemnity under the seal of the court stating that he has made a true and full discovery of all things as to which he was examined, and such certificate shall be a bar to all legal proceedings against him in respect of all such things.

Apart from Arul Kanda, the potential list of prosecution witnesses, in no particular order, include:

• Mazidah Abdul Majib, former chief secretary (cabinet) in the Prime Minister's Department

• Nur Jazlan Mohamed, former Public Accounts Committee chairperson

• Hasan Arifin, former Public Accounts Committee chairperson

• Dzulkifli Ahmad, former National Revenue Recovery Enforcement Team (NRRET) director
  

• Roosme Hamzah, Dewan Rakyat secretary

• Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi, former 1MDB CEO

• Tong Kooi Ong, Edge Media Group chairperson

• Ambrin Buang, former auditor-general

• Ali Hamsa, former chief secretary to the government

• Shukry Mohd Salleh, former private secretary to a former prime minister

• Ng Yee Hong, Deloitte PLT partner