Najib's entire legal team goes into self-quarantine over Covid-19 fear
Najib Abdul Razak's entire legal team are under self-imposed quarantine over Covid-19 fears, the Kuala Lumpur High Court heard today.
This was because lead defence counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah came in contact with someone who had direct contact with a Covid-19 patient.
Former premier Najib Abdul Razak's entire legal team are under self-imposed quarantine over Covid-19 fears, the Kuala Lumpur High Court heard today.
This was because lead defence counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah came in contact with someone who had direct contact with a Covid-19 patient.
This message was conveyed by Shafee's lawyer Noor Farhah Mustaffa to justice Collin Lawrence Sequerah this afternoon.
Noor Farhah said Shafee came in contact with the person during a kenduri (party) at Shafee's house last Saturday.
Najib, who is on trial for embezzling money from 1MDB, was present in the courtroom at the time as he sat in the dock.
As Noor Farhah spoke to the court, the rest of the defence team’s benches and tables are seen to be empty, with Shafee not seen anywhere in the courtroom.
Noor Farhah said that she was informed that Shafee only got to know that the person whom he came into contact with had come into contact with the Covid-19 positive patient around 12pm today.
“Shafee and the whole 1MDB legal team or the entire office (Shafee’s legal firm) was ordered to undergo quarantine by medical practitioners.
“We undertake to provide the (official) letters (to confirm that Shafee and the defence team are under quarantine),” Noor Farhah said.
Lead DPP and former federal court judge Gopal Sri Ram (below) then informed the court that this is quite a serious matter.
Sri Ram shared that he himself had undergone Covid-19 testing earlier which came back negative, but will go for a second test tomorrow, due to his coming in contact with two lawyers suspected of having contracted the virus.
Sequerah then remarked that the speed of the Covid-19 infection is faster than the pace of the RM2.28 billion 1MDB trial, eliciting laughter from all those present in court.
He then adjourned the proceedings to tomorrow and directed Noor Farhah to produce the two official letters, one from the Sungai Buloh Hospital and the other from the Health Ministry, that confirm Shafee and the entire defence team are under quarantine, to the court by around 9am tomorrow.
“Unless I have both letters by tomorrow morning, I do not see why this trial should be postponed,” Sequerah reminded Noor Farhah.
Today was initially set for the resumption of the defence’s cross-examination of the ninth prosecution witness, former 1MDB CEO Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi (below), following a four-month hiatus of proceedings.
Shahrol has been on the witness stand for 22 days. He has been cross-examined by the defence for 15 days.
Najib is on trial for four charges of abuse of power and 21 counts of money laundering in relation to RM2.28 billion which allegedly originated from troubled sovereign wealth fund 1MDB, via Tanore Finance Corporation.
Tanore Finance is purportedly owned by Eric Tan, an alleged associate of wanted 1MDB-linked businessperson Low Taek Jho or Jho Low.
Keep up with the latest information on the outbreak in the country with Malaysiakini's free Covid-19 tracker.
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