KUALA LUMPUR – Former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak is seeking a court order to compel the prosecution to produce bank statements and other documents to his defence team in his RM2.3 billion 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) case.
In a notice of motion filed by his team at the high court here today, Najib, among others, claimed that the documents are under the custody of the prosecution and/or other entities.
In an affirmed affidavit to support his application, the Pekan MP said the documents are relevant and vital to his 1MDB trial as it was not made available to his team before the case began.
According to the affidavit, Najib claimed that some of the documents and statements are linked to companies believed to be related to fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho, or Jho Low, and the family of former Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) governor Tan Sri Zeti Akhtar Aziz.
“Zeti is listed as a witness in the 1MDB trial. As such, the bank documents are relevant to my defence and the cross-examination of Zeti and other prosecution witnesses pertaining to her credibility and independence as she was the BNM governor during the period in relation to my charges.”
Najib said the suppression of the bank documents is akin to misrepresenting the truth, and a breach of his fundamental liberties and right to a fair trial before the law as enshrined under Articles 5 and 8 in the federal constitution.
In the notice of motion, among the documents the former prime minister has sought from the prosecution are bank account statements for Aktis Capital Singapore Pte Ltd, Country Group Securities Public Company Ltd, Acme Time Ltd (BVI), Butamba Investments Ltd and Central Holdings Ltd.
He is also seeking the companies’ certificate of incumbency, declarations of the identities of the companies’ beneficial owners, registers of members, registers of directors, and correspondence between the banks and companies in respect of its transactions, including emails, telegraphic transfers, remittance forms, payment advice, transaction reports, payment orders, credit advice and bank memos.
The application compels the revelation of the documents from the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission and BNM, or any other entity having custody of the papers.
Justice Collin Lawrence Sequerah set March 26 for mention.
For 1MDB’s trial, Justice Sequerah told both parties that the court intends to continue the trial in April if Najib’s appeal over the SRC International Sdn Bhd case does not take place at the Court of Appeal.
He then fixed April 19 to 22 for the 1MDB trial to resume in the event of the appeal hearing being vacated. – Bernama, March 24, 2021
