KUALA LUMPUR – The high court has set next Tuesday to resume Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s RM2.3 billion graft and money laundering trial involving 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).
According to Utusan Malaysia, judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah postponed the trial today after Najib’s lead counsel Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah came down with a fever and a throat infection.
Lawyer Alaistair Brandah Norman, who is from Shafee’s firm, said the latter had been given four days of medical leave until Sunday.
“The fever and severe throat infection had made it difficult for him (Shafee) to carry out proceedings in court,” Norman was quoted as saying.
Norman added that Shafee would also not be able to attend Najib’s 1MDB trial on Tuesday morning as he was involved in another appeal at the high court.
He said the appeal is related to former Repco Holdings Bhd executive chairman Low Thiam Hock’s appeal against his conviction and sentence for a market manipulation offence.
The 69-year-old Najib, who is Pekan MP, is faced with four charges of abusing his position as prime minister to obtain bribes totalling RM2.3 billion from 1MDB funds and 21 charges of money laundering involving the same amount.
Norman also said Najib’s defence team will be involved in a judicial review before judge Datuk Ahmad Kamal Md Shahid next Wednesday.
He said the judicial review was filed by Najib to challenge the Prisons Department decision on Monday, which barred him from attending Dewan Rakyat.
Meanwhile, deputy public prosecutor Mohamad Mustaffa P. Kunyalan said his team did not have any objections to Shafee’s medical leave.
However, Collin insisted the court cannot delay the 1MDB trial any further, as it has long been postponed.
“We cannot wait for this court or that court, because we have a commitment to complete this trial,” Collin was quoted as saying. – The Vibes, October 6, 2022
