1MDB judge orders doctor to attend court, explain why witness can't testify

The 1MDB trial judge has issued an order for a doctor to come to court and explain why a key prosecution witness is unable to attend and testify against Najib Abdul Razak.

Judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah this morning made the order when he found that a medical chit (MC) for MACC investigating officer Nur Aida Arifin stated the document could not be used for court proceedings.

Earlier today, in the continued trial of the RM2.27 billion 1MDB corruption case against former premier Najib, deputy public prosecutor Ahmad Akram Gharib informed the court that the 49th prosecution witness was unable to come as she was on medical leave.

When Sequerah asked what was the wording used on the MC, Akram said the wording was it cannot be used for court proceedings, and that the DPP was informed by Nur Aida that the MC wording was due to a clerical error.

Akram said Nur Aida explained the wording that was supposed to be used on the MC was that the document was valid for court proceedings, but an input error resulted in the usual MC that used the wording not valid for court proceedings.

“I require the doctor to come today and explain the discrepancy. Just tell the doctor to come now,” Sequerah said when Akram said the prosecution needed to prepare a subpoena to summon the doctor.

‘Contagious disease’

When Najib’s lead counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah chimed in to add that he heard that Nur Aida was not well and that she had a contagious disease, Sequerah reiterated his order for the doctor to be present.

“This (1MDB trial) has been going on and started long ago (in 2018 when Najib was first charged) and in the public eye. It needs to conclude,” the judge reminded both the prosecution and defence teams.

Sequerah subsequently called for recess as they waited for the doctor to be present in court.

Later when proceedings resumed, Dr K Shanmuganathan took the witness stand and confirmed that a second properly worded MC had been issued for Nur Aida.

The medical doctor told Sequerah that the MACC investigating officer is down with an infectious fever and flu.

“She is contagious and may spread (the disease) to other people,” Shanmuganathan said, adding that she needs at least two days to recover.

Sequerah then told Akram to check constantly on Nur Aida’s condition to see when she would be well enough to come to court and resume her testimony.

The judge then vacated trial dates for today and tomorrow, with proceedings to resume this Wednesday.

Najib is on trial over four counts of abuse of power and 21 counts of money laundering involving RM2.27 billion from 1MDB.

For the four abuse of power charges, the former Pekan MP is alleged to have committed the offences at AmIslamic Bank Bhd’s Jalan Raja Chulan branch in Bukit Ceylon, Kuala Lumpur, between Feb 24, 2011, and Dec 19, 2014.

On the 21 money laundering counts, Najib is purported to have committed the offences at the same bank between March 22, 2013, and Aug 30, 2013.

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