No permanent stay in RM6.6b CBT case against Najib, court rules

Former premier Najib Abdul Razak failed to obtain a permanent stay over six criminal breach of trust (CBT) charges involving RM6.6 billion.

The Kuala Lumpur High Court this morning denied the ex-finance minister’s bid following the prosecution’s failure to hand over some Official Secrets Act classified documents to the accused's legal team.

The defence team sought these documents to help prepare the accused's defence against the criminal charges.

Judge Muhammad Jamil Hussin said that a permanent stay ruling only applies to civil court cases rather than criminal court cases.

Jamil then stood proceedings down today temporarily for the prosecution and defence teams to prepare further submissions on whether the court can issue a discharge not amounting to an acquittal (DNAA) for Najib and co-accused former treasury secretary-general Mohd Irwan Serigar Abdullah.

The judge said this is because the Criminal Procedure Code only expressly provides that the criminal court can allow DNAA when prosecutors expressly apply for it.

Application for DNAA

Earlier today following a DNAA bid by Irwan’s lawyer K Kumaraendran, deputy public prosecutor Muhammad Saifuddin Hashim Musaimi said the prosecution left it to the court whether to issue such an order.

Muhammad Shafee Abdullah and Kumaraendran respectively sought a permanent stay and DNAA as the case had hung over Najib and Irwan’s heads since 2018. Shafee is acting for Najib.

The classified documents were from several ministries, among them the Economy Ministry, the Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability Ministry, and the Transport Ministry.

The trial was initially supposed to start in June this year, following numerous postponements.

However, the trial had been postponed three times since June as prosecutors were yet unable to get the declassified documents from the ministries.

Under OSA, the declassification of documents must be done by the ministries, thus the prosecution needs to wait for these ministries to declassify the documents sought by the defence teams.

‘My client carpet-bombed since 2018’

In today’s open-court proceedings, Shafee applied for DNAA as the prosecution continuously failed to hand over the crucial documents for the accused’s defence.

The lawyer pointed out that Najib’s ability to defend himself has been severely affected by the prosecution’s conduct, in light of the ex-premier facing many court cases.

“He has been carpet-bombed in all the courts in Kuala Lumpur. The word carpet-bombed is no exaggeration as he appeared in (several criminal) and civil courts relating to the same issue,” Shafee said.

Besides the existing IPIC criminal case, Najib also faces an ongoing RM2.27 billion 1MDB abuse of power case and the ongoing RM27 million SRC International money laundering case.

The ex-premier is serving a six-year jail sentence over a conviction in the RM42 million SRC abuse of power case case. However, he was acquitted in the 1MDB audit report case.

Jamil then vacated tomorrow’s IPIC trial and set Wednesday to hear further submissions from the prosecution and the defence teams of Najib and Irwan on whether the two accused should receive a DNAA.

The charges

The criminal case against Najib and Irwan is linked to alleged payments of RM6,636,065,000 of government funds to the International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC).

On Oct 25, 2018, before the Sessions Court, Najib and Irwan pleaded not guilty to the six CBT counts. The matter was later transferred to the High Court.

Najib and Irwan allegedly committed all the offences at the Finance Ministry Complex in Putrajaya between Dec 21, 2016, and Dec 18, 2017.

They were charged under Section 409 of the Penal Code, read together with Section 34 of the same code, which carries a maximum jail term of 20 years, whipping, and a fine.

However, since the duo are above 50, they would be spared whipping if convicted.

On the first count, Najib, 70, and Irwan, 67, were jointly charged - in their capacity as finance minister and treasury secretary-general entrusted with RM1.2 billion belonging to the government - with committing CBT of the funds.

For the second count, they were jointly charged - in the same capacity - with committing CBT of RM655 million belonging to the government.

On the third charge, they were jointly accused - in their capacity as public servants and holding the same positions - of committing CBT of RM220 million belonging to the government in Federal Consolidated Fund under “Belanja Mengurus di Bawah Maksud B11 Perkhidmatan Am Perbendaharaan, Aktiviti 021700 KL International Airport Berhad” that were entrusted to them.

The duo were also jointly charged with CBT of RM1.3 billion, which was entrusted to them by the Federal Consolidated Fund under “Maksud B11 Perkhidmatan Am Perbendaharaan, Aktiviti 020500 Subsidi Dan Bantuan Tunai”, belonging to the government.

On the fifth and sixth counts, they were jointly charged with committing CBT of CN¥1,950,000,000 (RM1,261,065,000) and RM2 billion, respectively, that belonged to the government.

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