KUALA LUMPUR (June 20): The High Court has granted former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak a discharge not amounting to acquittal (DNAA) in his money-laundering trial linked to SRC International Sdn Bhd.
High Court judge K Muniandy on Friday said that the case — which was initiated in 2019 and of which trial is yet to start — has been pending in the court's schedule for too long.
Moreover, the judge said that the DNAA order, which means the charges are dropped temporary, does not prejudice the prosecution as they are free to re-charge Najib when they are ready.
“The case against the accused person has been pending in this court for a period [of] six years since 2019,” he continued, “not an iota of witness testimony has been pursued with but only a plethora of postponements indicating that the prosecution is not ready with the prosecution of the case.”
The court should only issue DNAA orders "sparingly and grudgingly", but there was nothing to show that the prosecution can proceed with the case expeditiously in the immediate future, he noted.
Judge Muniandy also said that it is the principle in law that an accused is innocent until proven guilty and that once someone is charged, it cannot be "hanging over his head for an indeterminate or indefinite period" as it would be "harsh and illegal".
The decision on Friday comes after a brief case management last week, where deputy public prosecutor Mohd Ashrof Adri requested that the case proceed to trial but requested some time to prepare all the related documents.
Mohd Ashrof had explained that there were over 800 documents linked to the first SRC case which needed to be located within the various courts as the prosecution last saw them during the trial in 2020.
Letters of rep rejected, Shafee asked for DNAA
Mohd Ashrof also informed the court that Najib's latest letter of representation to drop the three money-laundering charges had been rejected.
Senior counsel Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah then repeated his request for the court to granted his client a DNAA, "in the interest of justice", as the case has been pending for quite some time.
Najib, who turns 72 next month, is slapped 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.
The case has been pending mainly to accommodate his other criminal trials.
The ex-PM is currently serving his prison sentence in the first SRC case, after the apex court dismissed his appeal and review bid.
In February last year, the Pardons Board reduced his initial 12-year jail sentence and a fine of RM210 million to six years and a fine of RM50 million.
Speaking to the press following the court decision to grant a DNAA, Shafee said that his client is happy and could now fully focus on the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) case where submissions at the end of the defence case begin on Oct 21.