This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on March 15, 2019

KUALA LUMPUR: A judge yesterday allowed the prosecution’s application to transfer the audit tempering case involving ex-premier Datuk Seri Najib Razak and former 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) president and chief executive officer Arul Kanda Kandasamy from the Sessions Court to the High Court.

High Court judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali made the decision after Najib’s lawyers, led by Muhammad Farhan Muhammad Shafee, and Arul Kanda’s counsel Datuk N Sivananthan did not raise any objection to the application.

With this, all of the former premier’s cases have been transferred to the High Court for hearing.

Deputy public prosecutor Amir Nasrudin appeared for the prosecution yesterday in applying for the transfer.

What will happen next is that the prosecution and defence will inform the Sessions Court of the transfer. The case will be mentioned at the Sessions Court on April 5.

A date will then be fixed by the High Court for Najib and Arul Kanda to come again to court to take their pleas to the charge and fix the trial dates.

On Dec 12 last year, Najib claimed trial before Sessions Court judge Azura Alwi to using his position to order amendments to the 1MDB final audit report before it was tabled to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) to avoid any action against him.

He was charged, in his capacity as a public officer, which was as the prime minister, with using the position to obtain gratification for himself, which was to evade disciplinary, civil or criminal action against him in connection with 1MDB, by ordering alterations to the fund’s final audit report before it was finalised and tabled to the PAC, where he directly had an interest in.

The Pekan member of Parliament was accused of committing the offence at the Complex of the Prime Minister’s Department in Putrajaya between Feb 22 and Feb 26, 2016.

He was charged under Section 23(1) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act 2009 and faces an imprisonment for up to 20 years, and a fine of not less than five times the amount of the gratification or RM10,000, whichever is higher, if found guilty.

Arul Kanda, meanwhile, was charged with abetting Najib in making amendments to the report to protect the ex-premier from being subjected to disciplinary, civil or criminal action in connection with 1MDB, at the same place and time.

The charge filed under Section 28 (1) (c) of the MACC Act 2009 read together with Section 23 (1) & 24 (1) of the same law carries a similar sentence, upon conviction.