Thursday 28 Mar 2024
By
main news image

KUALA LUMPUR (May 12): Datuk Seri Najib Razak's and former 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) president Arul Kanda Kandasamy's audit tampering report case in the High Court here will resume before Justice Mohamed Zaini Mazlan from June 15 to 18 and June 29 and 30.

Further dates for the trial have been fixed as July 1 to 3, and July 27 to 30, said Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Ahmad Akram Gharib.

“The dates were given to the parties by High Court senior assistant registrar Catherine Nicholas through email yesterday,” he said.

Najib is charged with abusing his power as a public officer, where as the prime minister and finance minister, he allegedly directed changes to the 1MDB audit report before it was finalised and tabled to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), so as to avoid any civil action or criminal prosecution against him.

He is alleged to have committed the offence at the Prime Minister's Department Complex between Feb 22 and Feb 26, 2016. The Pekan Member of Parliament (MP) is charged under Section 23 (1) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act 2009, which is punishable under Section 24 (1) of the same act.

Arul Kanda is charged with abetting Najib under Section 28 (1) of the MACC Act 2009 and faces the same punishment under Section 24 (1).

If found guilty, they are liable to face a minimum fine of RM10,000 or five times the gratification and jailed up to 20 years.

With this, the former premier, who is facing five separate trials, will face the 1MDB hearing trial beginning on May 19, while SRC International Sdn Bhd submissions for the end of defence are fixed for June 1, followed by the 1MDB audit tampering trial on June 15.

Besides this, Najib is also jointly charged with former Ministry of Finance (MoF) secretary-general Tan Sri Dr Mohd Irwan Serigar Abdullah with six counts of criminal breach of trust of RM6.6 billion of government funds in relation to payment to International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC) matters. The Pekan MP is also facing charges of money laundering in relation to SRC's RM27 million funds.

      Print
      Text Size
      Share