1MDB trial: Judge to decide November 6 if Najib's three charges will be amended to lower amount

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 26 — The High Court will decide on November 6 whether to allow the prosecution to make changes to three of the 25 charges faced by former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak in the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) trial.

This morning, Najib’s lead defence lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah was scheduled to continue presenting arguments on why the three charges should not be amended.

But the hearing did not go on today, as Shafee informed the High Court that Najib’s legal team would need more time to prepare the list of the facts of the 1MDB case related to the proposed changes to the three charges.

“As I have informed Yang Arif yesterday, we are assembling together all the factual matrix in relation to the amendment which relates to the fourth charge, as well as the other two money laundering charges that are intended by the prosecution for purposes of amendment,” he said.

“Yang Arif, in spite of our best effort, my team had been working and we produced this document, which is a summary of what we think is relevant for Yang Arif to decide on this issue. And we have noticed apart from people like Hazem, Tan Sri Zeti, Joanna Yu and Uma Devi and all that, there are a few more witnesses that we need to go through in order to come to a complete factual matrix,” he added.

Shafee was referring to former 1MDB CEO Mohd Hazem Abd Rahman who is the 10th prosecution witness in the 1MDB trial, former Bank Negara Malaysia governor Tan Sri Zeti Akhtar Aziz (46th prosecution witness), former AmBank relationship manager Joanna Yu (41st prosecution witness), and AmIslamic bank Jalan Raja Chulan branch manager R. Uma Devi (37th prosecution witness).

Shafee said Najib’s legal team and complete its written additional submissions by next week, and the prosecution could file its reply within next week and the defence could then file its final response by the end of next week.

He said the judge could decide the week after, when November 6 has been scheduled for continued hearing of the 1MDB trial.

“Which means Yang Arif, today we ask for Yang Arif to vacate in order for us to undertake this,” he said when applying for the hearing to not go on today.

Deputy public prosecutor Kamal Baharin Omar did not object to Shafee’s request for more time to prepare, saying that the prosecution also needs to prepare its response to Najib’s legal team’s arguments.

Kamal Baharin informed the High Court that the 48th prosecution witness, Assistant Commissioner of Police Foo Wei Min, was present in the court complex today, but would not be able to testify as he has been on sick leave due to gout since yesterday.

Trial judge Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah then said he would deliver his decision on November 6 on both the prosecution’s application to amend the three charges and whether banking documents previously presented by Foo during the trial can be admitted as evidence.

The prosecution said it would ensure Foo would be present on November 6 to standby to testify.

Assistant Commissioner Foo Wei Min at the Kuala Lumpur Court Complex in Kuala Lumpur October 24, 2023. — Picture by Hari anggara.

The judge then allowed today’s hearing date to be vacated.

Shafee said both the prosecution and defence proposed to have December 8 and December 15 fixed as trial dates to replace the hearing date today.

The judge then asked for the prosecution and defence to find two other additional trial dates during that period, saying that he was actually on leave on those dates but was willing to come back to hear the 1MDB trial.

Shafee said efforts will be made to see if additional trial dates could be identified.

The suit-clad Najib was seen in the courtroom, while his wife Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor also attended the court proceedings.

On Tuesday, the prosecution made an application to the High Court to amend three of the 25 charges that Najib is currently facing in the 1MDB trial, by changing only the amount of funds stated in each of the three charges.

In the 1MDB case, Najib is facing four power of abuse charges and 21 money laundering charges over 1MDB funds.

The prosecution wants to amend the amount in Najib’s fourth power of abuse charge from RM49,930,985.70 to RM44,570,920.70.

Based on Malay Mail’s calculations, this will result in the total 1MDB-linked funds that Najib is accused of having committed power abuse in four charges as decreasing from RM2,282,937,678.41 (RM2.28 billion) to RM2,277,577,613.41 (RM2.277 billion).

The prosecution wanted to amend the money laundering charges which Najib was accused of committing by transferring money from unlawful activities, by reducing the amount involved in the 10th money laundering charge from RM652.6 million to RM515,666,277.51 (RM515.67 million), and by reducing the amount in the 21st money laundering charge from RM12,436,711.87 to RM11,411,646.34.

Under the 21 counts of money laundering that Najib is accused of, five counts involve the transferring of funds which currently comes up to a total of RM2,196,786,711.87 or over RM2.19 billion.

If the prosecution is allowed to amend two of the charges, the total amount transferred under the five counts of money laundering would be a lower amount of RM2,058,827,923.85 or over RM2.05 billion.