Shafee down with Covid, Najib’s 1MDB audit trial vacated
As such, the former prime minister’s 1MDB audit report trial before the Kuala Lumpur High Court was vacated this morning.
Today’s initially scheduled hearing of the prosecution’s bid - to call co-accused and former 1MDB CEO...
Najib Abdul Razak’s lead defence counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah tested positive for Covid-19 on Tuesday (May 31).
As such, the former prime minister’s 1MDB audit report trial before the Kuala Lumpur High Court was vacated this morning.
Today’s initially scheduled hearing of the prosecution’s bid - to call co-accused and former 1MDB CEO Arul Kanda Kandasamy as a star witness against Najib - has been converted to case management instead.
Back on Monday (May 30), the hearing of the prosecution’s bid was also postponed as Shafee (above) was then down with fever and a sore throat that made his voice sound like the late James Bond actor Sean Connery.
Speaking to the media after case management today, Najib’s defence counsel Wan Aizuddin Wan Mohammed confirmed the vacating of today’s hearing.
“Today was taken off as Shafee tested positive for Covid-19 on May 31.
“The judge (Mohamed Zaini Mazlan) wants to hear the application (to turn Arul Kanda into a star witness) as soon as possible, thus the court fixed June 14 for hearing of the application,” Wan Aizuddin said.
On the hearing of the main audit report case, the lawyer said the court has set July 4 and 14 for the resumption of the trial.
Deputy prosecutor Nadia Zulkifli appeared for the prosecution today.
Previously, the prosecution applied to call Arul Kanda to act as a witness against Najib due to the former’s alleged knowledge of what transpired during a meeting on Feb 24, 2016.
The prosecutors are contending that a decision to make the amendments to the 1MDB audit report was made during the meeting, at the office of the then chief secretary to the government Ali Hamsa.
It was alleged this was done to remove or alter certain portions of the 1MDB audit report, including dropping the issue of wanted fugitive Low Taek Jho’s (Jho Low) attendance at the fund’s board meetings.
Another issue that was allegedly dropped from the 1MDB audit report was the two conflicting 2014 financial statements of the sovereign wealth fund.
Besides Ali and Arul Kanda, others who were present at the meeting were former auditor-general Ambrin Buang, former National Audit Department officer Saadatul Nafisah Bashir Ahmad, Najib’s former principal private secretary Shukry Salleh, and former Attorney-General’s Chambers representative Dzulkifli Ahmad.
However, the former premier’s defence team indicated they would raise objections against the bid over constitutional issues.
Depending on the strength of Arul’s testimony against Najib, the co-accused may be granted an acquittal or discharge not amounting to an acquittal (DNAA) from the criminal case.
Najib is charged with using his position to order amendments to 1MDB's final audit report before it was presented to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) to prevent any action against him.
Arul was charged with abetting Najib in making the amendments.
The charges are framed under Section 23 (1) of the MACC Act 2009, which specifies a jail term of up to 20 years and a fine of no less than five times the amount of gratification or RM10,000, whichever is higher.
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