There should be light at end of tunnel, 1MDB judge says over years-long trial

Summary

• Judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah who presides over the nearly seven-year-long 1MDB trial against Najib Abdul Razak remarks that there should come a time when there is light at the end of the tunnel.

• The judge is trying to set replacement and additional trial dates with the prosecution and defence teams.

1MDB TRIAL | The judge presiding over former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak's RM2.27 billion 1MDB abuse of power and money laundering trial mused there should come a time when there is light at the end of the tunnel.

Court of Appeal judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah, in his capacity as High Court judge in Putrajaya today, reminded the prosecution and defence teams that it has been a long trial which began in August 2019.

During proceedings this morning, Sequerah tried to set replacement and additional trial dates over the case in which Najib was first charged in the criminal court in 2018.

The exchange took place between the judge, lead defence counsel Shafee Abdullah and deputy public prosecutor Ahmad Akram Gharib.

"We are all working, but surely there must come a point when there is light at the end of the tunnel.

"They say the tail end (of the 1MDB trial) but sometimes the tail is very long," said Sequerah, who is nearing judicial retirement age early next year.

It is understood that both the prosecution and defence teams would return to the criminal court later for replacement and additional trial dates.

Defence witness and retired police investigation officer R Rajagopal then took the stand for Shafee’s examination-in-chief.

50 prosecution witnesses

On Oct 30 last year, the High Court ordered Najib to enter his defence over four abuses of power and 21 money laundering charges involving RM2.27 billion from 1MDB.

Sequerah ruled that the prosecution had succeeded in establishing a prima facie (answerable) case against Najib due to the strength of some 50 witness testimonies.

Between early December last year and late January this year, Najib spent 26 days on the witness stand trying to raise reasonable doubt in the prosecution’s case.

The accused contended that he had neither knowledge nor involvement in wrongdoing at 1MDB and that fugitive businessperson Low Taek Jho (Jho Low) and members of the fund’s management solely masterminded the embezzlement there.

The former Pekan MP also relied on the defence that he was promised a donation by the late Saudi monarch King Abdullah during a meeting in Riyadh in 2010.

Shafee objected to police recording Najib's statement: Retired cop

Najib muttered 'my God' when told of RM42m transfer: Witness

1MDB ordered to pay RM225k cost to Riza, 2 firms

I told nothing but the truth this Ramadan, says Najib's 1MDB witness

1MDB yet to greenlight ex-lawyers testifying for Najib