KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 18): The prosecution in the ongoing 1Malaysia Development Bhd-Tanore (1MDB-Tanore) trial is planning to call the troubled fund's former general counsel Jasmine Loo Ai Swan to the stand.
Deputy public prosecutor (DPP) Ahmad Akram Gharib told the court on Monday that this was due to the testimony of investigating officer (IO) ACP Foo Wei Min.
"This cropped up from the cross-examination of ACP Foo. There were parts where ACP Foo was allowed to give his opinion on the status of Jasmine Loo's evidence given to him. Because of that there may be gaps that are opened and we are planning to call [her] as a witness," he told the court.
To this, trial judge Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah commented that "that is something new".
Previously on the stand, Foo — the prosecution's 48th witness — concurred with lead defence counsel Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah's suggestion that Loo's testimony could either “put a nail in Najib's coffin” or acquit him of his 21 money laundering charges.
Foo said he got this information from Loo during interrogation after the former fugitive surrendered herself to the police on July 7. Foo had stressed that he was only investigating Loo, a central figure in the 1MDB debacle, on the issue of asset recovery.
The topic of pending witnesses came about at the close of the proceedings on Monday, after parties finished with their last bits of cross-examinations and re-examination of 47th prosecution witness BNM analyst Adam Ariff Mohd Roslan.
Shafee informed the court that after Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) investigating officer Nur Aida Arifin, there is still the continued cross-examination of Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) governor Tan Sri Zeti Akhtar Aziz.
The defence counsel also indicated, as he has previously, that he may recall former 1MDB chief financial officer (CFO) Azmi Tahir and the fund's former chief executive officer (CEO) Mohd Hazem Abd Rahman to testify.
In September, the police said that Loo — who was at large since 2018 — helped identify assets worth over RM93.2 million purchased using 1MDB monies. Loo is still being investigated by other agencies over 1MDB.
Following her return, Sequerah had disclosed that he and Loo were partners in Messrs Zain & Co more than a decade ago while the Court of Appeal (COA) judge was practising law.
This prompted the defence to apply to disqualify the judge which was subsequently dismissed. The court ruled that the defence failed to show that there was a real danger of bias, adding that past associations such as employment history alone are insufficient indications of that bias. The defence is appealing this decision.
Besides the 21 money laundering charges, Datuk Seri Najib Razak also faces four counts of abuse of power for using his position as then prime minister, finance minister and chairman of 1MDB’s board of advisers to receive gratifications worth RM2.28 billion.
The trial continues on Jan 2.