This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on November 19, 2019

KUALA LUMPUR: The 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) audit report tampering trial began in the High Court yesterday after former premier Datuk Seri Najib Razak — jointly charged with ex-1MDB chief executive officer (CEO) Arul Kanda Kandasamy — failed to get the case postponed.

Justice Mohamed Zaini Mazlan ordered the trial to proceed as scheduled after dismissing Najib’s application to defer it on the grounds that his legal team needed time to prepare for his defence in the SRC International Sdn Bhd trial, slated to continue on Dec 3.

In his application, Najib said he and his lawyers were also preparing for the 1MDB-Tanore trial, started on Aug 28.

The prosecution and Arul Kanda had objected to Najib’s application to defer the audit report tampering case.

After the court rejected the postponement application, Najib’s lead counsel Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah told the court that he would continue seeking a postponement following amendments made to the charge by the prosecution.

Muhammad Shafee argued that the amendments are extensive and that Najib may not understand the amended charge, as the defence only found out about it last Friday. The former prime minister only found out about the matter after returning from the Tanjung Piai by-election in Johor at the weekend — as he did not receive the documents containing the amended charge.

“Section 159 of the Criminal Procedure Code stipulates if a charge is framed and alteration is made, the defence can apply for a postponement for the defence to better prepare the case and not prejudice our client,” he said.

The lawyer said half of his legal team, involved in the 1MDB-Tanore case, are not present for the audit report tampering trial.

“I cannot afford a fragmentation as it would prejudice our client and there is not enough time for us to prepare this case,” he said, adding that currently, they are at three fronts — the SRC, 1MDB-Tanore and now the audit report tampering cases.

Following this, Muhammad Shafee asked for the trial to be deferred for two weeks.

However, senior Deputy Public Prosecutor Datuk Seri Gopal Sri Ram objected to the defence’s second postponement attempt, saying Najib’s 1MDB-Tanore trial has some resemblance to this case.

“He (Muhammad Shafee) is familiar as he handled the 1MDB trial. Further, the majority of witnesses called are formal witnesses to testify that Najib is a public officer, and also a witness from the Companies Commission of Malaysia (CCM),” he said.

The former judge added that it was inappropriate to say Najib may not be able to understand the charge, given his former position as the head of government. “Saying he cannot understand it is not fair to his intellect,” said Sri Ram.

Arul Kanda’s counsel Datuk N Sivananthan said he and his team had expected the amendments to the charge and that it is not an issue for his client.

Justice Mohamed Zaini then ordered the trial to proceed, but allowed for proceedings this week to end at 2pm, with no hearing on Friday to allow Muhammad Shafee and his team to deal with Najib’s two other trials.

Three witnesses were called to testify yesterday. The first witness Daman Huri Nor, the secretary for the constitutional affairs and parliament section under the Prime Minister’s Department (JPM), was not subjected to any cross-examination.

The second formal witness was Natasha Rahima Haryati Mohamad, an accountant in JPM’s finance division. Her testimony gave a breakdown of the gross and net salaries on a monthly and annualised basis of when Najib was under the JPM from 2006 to 2018.

Muhammad Shafee cross-examined her, asking if Najib’s salary also included remuneration for his position as finance minister. She said it was only for salaries issued under the JPM.

Najib was deputy prime minister from 2006 to March 2009, after which he became Malaysia’s sixth prime minister until May 9 last year.

The final witness, CCM registration assistant Muhamad Akmaludin Abdullah, was not cross-examined by the defence.