Sparks fly in 1MDB-Tanore proceedings over MACC IO’s statement, judge grows frustrated

Wednesday 20 Nov 2024

KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 8): The 1Malaysia Development Bhd-Tanore (1MDB-Tanore) trial on Monday was a heated affair, as the defence and prosecution continued to lock horns over Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) investigating officer (IO) Nur Aida Arifin’s witness statement.

The defence has been raising numerous objections since the 49th prosecution witness first took the stand on Jan 2. Former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s legal team had argued that the anti-graft officer made findings which she was not equipped to make, drew conclusions even though that was the court’s duty, and that many portions of her statement were based on hearsay.

Lead defence counsel Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah also took issue with the phrasing in parts of the 37-year-old’s statement.

The prosecution in turn countered that Nur Aida was merely relaying the findings of her investigation. Their stand was that the statements Nur Aida made in the court were based on documentary evidence.

The court has been diligently taking note of the various objections, and has informed the defence to take the matter up during submissions, and that the court will subsequently make a ruling on it.

Last Friday, some minor amendments were made to the IO’s statement to alter the phrasing. The prosecution also created a sidebar to specific paragraphs stating the specific documents and sources which Nur Aida had referred to.

However, the defence was not assuaged, and continued to raise similar objections on Monday, just as Nur Aida finished reading two paragraphs on the second phase of the 1MDB scam, the Aabar BVI phase concerning the acquisition of Tanjong Energy Holdings Sdn Bhd and Mastika Lagenda Sdn Bhd.

Nur Aida testified on Najib’s meeting with foreign investors in New York in November 2009 and also then Goldman Sachs chief executive officer Lloyd Craig Blankfein. The IO testified that the former finance minister had asked Blankfein on behalf of Goldman Sachs to support and give advice (consultation) to 1MDB, especially in the energy, real estate, tourism and agriculture sectors.

Shafee countered that former 1MDB CEO Datuk Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi never said this when he was on the stand. Nur Aida responded that she got this from Shahrol’s statement to MACC officers during investigations.

Shafee continued his objection, saying that the IO was testifying as though her narratives were “statements of facts” where she had to be “100%” accurate.

Deputy public prosecutor Ahmad Akram Gharib stressed that the court was fully capable of discerning the evidence from the retelling of a story.

Following a protracted, heated exchange between the defence and the prosecution, a visibly frustrated Court of Appeal judge Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah said that the parties could not go on this way, and could resort to a few options.

“Either we go on this way, which will take forever, or I take [Shafee’s] objections until the end of the statement and rule on it at an appropriate time, or I adjourn the trial and both parties come up with [a statement] they can live with. After that, take the statement as read and go on with the cross-examination, because we cannot go on like this,” he said.

However, both parties continued to be at loggerheads, causing Sequerah to adjourn the matter and summon both parties to his chambers.

The trial was set to go on for the whole day on Monday. Nur Aida’s testimony is 95 pages long, and she was at Page 37 at the time of writing.

The matter is slated to continue at 2.30pm.

The Edge is covering the trial live here.

Users of The Edge Markets app may tap here to access the live report.

Edited BySurin Murugiah

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