KUALA LUMPUR (April 5): In an unprecedented move, the 1Malaysia Development Bhd-Tanore (1MDB-Tanore) criminal trial of former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak will continue on Saturdays from April.
High Court judge Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah has set some dates for the court to sit on Saturdays to hear the trial.
Proceedings will resume on April 22 and continue until Saturday, April 27. The Saturday dates had been discussed for sometime as the judge urged parties to provide the court with additional dates.
Sequerah had in past occasions warned that the trial had been dragging on for too long. Proceedings have been ongoing since 2019, and are now in the sixth year.
The trial will continue on six Saturdays until June, with the dates being April 27, May 4 and 25, and June 1, 8 and 15, as set by Sequerah and agreed upon by the defence and prosecution.
Meanwhile, former 1MDB general counsel Jasmine Loo Ai Swan, the prosecution's 50th witness, was finally released from the stand after her explosive testimony.
The next witness will be Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) investigating officer Nur Aida Arifin, who will continue her testimony after taking the stand previously.
Earlier in the trial on Friday, deputy public prosecutor Ahmad Akram Gharib said that the prosecution was not done with the testimony of former Bank Negara Malaysia governor Tan Sri Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz, among others.
In this trial, Najib faces four counts of abuse of power for using his position as the then prime minister, finance minister and chairman of 1MDB’s board of advisers to receive gratifications worth RM2.27 billion. He also faces 21 money-laundering charges.
The Edge is covering the trial live here.
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