KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 19) : The High Court has fixed five trial days in September this year to hear former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s second money laundering trial involving RM27 million of SRC International Sdn Bhd’s (SRC) funds.
High Court judge K Muniandy ruled that the trial dates ought to be fixed despite lead defence counsel Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah’s stance that his client be granted a discharge and acquittal (DAA), given that the case has been pending since 2018.
"After having considered the arguments of [the prosecution and the defence] , and in lieu of the fact that it is only a case management date today, this court will proceed to fix the trial date,” Muniandy said.
"If the prosecution is unable to proceed with their case on that day, the defence is at liberty to file for a discharge not amounting to acquittal (DNAA) or a discharge and acquittal (DAA).”
The trial dates have been fixed for Sept 17 till 19, and Sept 23 and 24.
At the onset of the case management on Friday, deputy public prosecutor Mohd Ashrof Adrin asked for another case management date as the prosecution needed more time to consider Najib’s letter of representation sent on July 31 last year.
He said that due to "circumstances that still exist", the prosecution was unable to arrive at a conclusive decision on the 51-page letter Najib had sent, seeking to drop all three charges against him in this trial.
There have been three case managements where the court was informed that the Attorney General’s Chambers (AGC) had yet to arrive at a decision. During the previous case management on Dec 1 last year, parties were reminded that the court would not grant any more adjournments.
However, Shafee argued that given that the charges were preferred in 2018, the court had only two alternatives to consider: that Najib be given a DAA, or "at the very least" a DNAA where Najib can be charged again for the same offence in the future.
"We can see that the difficulty of the prosecution in making up their mind shows that the charge can be regarded as groundless," he said.
Shafee added that there were 26 case management dates alone for this case before the previous presiding judge Mohamed Zaini Mazlan, and four case managements before Muniandy. Muniandy took over the case when Zaini was elevated to the Court of Appeal early last year.
The senior lawyer went on to argue that the three charges Najib faces in this trial "were accidentally left behind by the prosecution" from the main SRC case, and therefore, there would be a great miscarriage of justice should there be further delays.
However, Ashrof countered that the prosecution was merely seeking more time to consider the ex-PM's letter of representation. He added that an order for an acquittal should not be considered at this juncture.
The court has set another case management for March 12, for the prosecution to provide an update on the letter of representation.
In this trial, Najib is charged with three counts of money laundering by accepting proceeds from illegal activities amounting to RM27 million through his three AmPrivate Banking accounts in July 2014.
Najib is currently serving a 12-year prison sentence, after the apex court dismissed his final appeal in the RM42 million SRC case in August 2022.
He then filed a review. A fresh five-member panel then heard the review and dismissed his application with a majority 4-1 decision.
The ex-Umno president still faces two more trials in relation to the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) financial scandal. The 1MDB-Tanore trial is still ongoing and is at the tail-end of the prosecution's case.
He faces four counts of abuse of power and 21 counts of money laundering of RM2.27 billion of 1MDB funds in that trial.
He also has a pending case of criminal breach of trust of RM6.6 billion, involving International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC), where Najib is charged alongside former Treasury secretary-general Tan Sri Mohd Irwan Serigar Abdullah.
That trial has yet to begin but the former finance minister has also sent letters of representation in that trial.
Najib, along with former 1MDB president Arul Kanda Kandasamy, have both been acquitted in the 1MDB audit report tampering trial.
Read also:
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