This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on February 12, 2020

KUALA LUMPUR: Dr Steven Strach, a document expert appointed by the defence in Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s SRC International Sdn Bhd trial, is currently going through the disputed exhibits containing the signatures of the former premier.

The prosecution told the press that the expert was in court on Monday and yesterday for the purpose of examining the documents, in a room located adjacent to the judge’s room at Justice Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali’s court.

Strach is a director at Strach Forensic Pty Ltd, a consultancy providing forensic document examination and fingerprint examination services, based in Australia.

According to his LinkedIn profile, the expert has more than 30 years of experience with a history of consulting for the legal services industry.

Mohd Nazlan previously ruled that the defence could call a handwriting expert, but said Strach could only examine the documents for two days and further ruled that the prosecution would be entitled to call a rebuttal witness.

The documents — 11 marked as prosecution exhibits and two defence exhibits — comprise photocopy and original documents. Najib had questioned whether the signatures were affixed by him.

Among the documents in question are the company minutes of 1Malaysia Development Bhd — the then parent company of SRC — and a letter dated Dec 24, 2014, containing bank transfer instructions by SRC.

The court was previously told that Strach’s report will be completed by Feb 26.