Defence wants ex-minister disregarded for blaming Najib for sexual harassment claim
NAJIB SRC TRIAL | Najib Abdul Razak's defence team today argued in his RM42 million SRC International Sdn Bhd graft trial that the testimony of an ex-minister should be disregarded.
Defence lawyer Farhan Read said there were questions to former finance minister II Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah's credibility as a witness as he had blamed former prime minister Najib for a sexual...
NAJIB SRC TRIAL | Najib Abdul Razak's defence team today argued in his RM42 million SRC International Sdn Bhd graft trial that the testimony of an ex-minister should be disregarded.
Defence lawyer Farhan Read said there were questions to former finance minister II Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah's credibility as a witness as he had blamed former prime minister Najib for a sexual harassment claim.
"This is a deeply personal issue - sexual misconduct but he blames Najib for it. How would one regard a person responsible for this allegation?
"More pertinently, how would his (Ahmad Husni) evidence against the person charged with the offence translate?
"Can we believe what he said and value what he said?" Farhan said at the Kuala Lumpur High Court during the defence's submission.
Husni (above, middle), during his testimony as a prosecution witness, had among others claimed that he lied to cover-up for Najib.
Despite his efforts, Husni claimed Najib engineered a sexual harassment allegation against him.
When testifying in court, Husni had also claimed that Najib had in 2015 blocked him from travelling to Switzerland to find out what happened to billions of ringgit in SRC International's funds which had purportedly been frozen.
The funds were loans taken out from the Retirement Fund Incorporated (Kwap).
At the time, Najib was both the prime minister and finance minister.
Farhan also cited transcripts from the testimony where Husni confirmed he had purportedly threatened to expose Najib.
"How does this translate to the credibility of a witness?
"This court must be cautious in taking SP56's (Husni) evidence in light of all these circumstances," he said.
Farhan said this is important as it involves the danger of Najib's liberty being taken away if the court finds him guilty for any of the seven charges including abuse of power, criminal breach of trust (CBT), and money laundering involving RM42 million of SRC International funds.
He reiterated that the court is the forum where truth is obtained, not exclusively from the mouths of witnesses, but also from all evidence presented during a trial.
Today is the second day for Najib’s defence team to make their oral submissions, following the defence closing its case on March 11.
High Court judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali previously set three days from June 1 to 3 to hear the oral submissions by the defence and prosecution.
On March 11, the defence closed its case after calling 19 witnesses during the defence stage of trial that ran for 33 days since Dec 3 last year.
The trial began on April 3 last year, with the prosecution calling 57 witnesses.
On Nov 11 last year, the court ordered Najib to enter his defence on seven charges linked to alleged misappropriation of RM42 million in SRC funds, namely three counts of CBT, three counts of money laundering, and one count of abuse of position.
In regard to the CBT charges, Najib, as a public servant and agent, being then prime minister and finance minister, and advisor emeritus of SRC International, was alleged to have misappropriated RM27 million and RM5 million respectively of RM4 billion belonging to SRC.
He was charged with committing the two offences at AmIslamic Bank Berhad, Ambank Group Building, No 55, Jalan Raja Chulan here, between Dec 24, 2014, and Dec 29, 2014.
On the third CBT count, Najib allegedly misappropriated another RM10 million out of RM4 billion belonging to SRC at the same place between Feb 10, 2015, and March 2, 2015.
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