Thursday 28 Mar 2024
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KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 4): Datuk Seri Gopal Sri Ram, the lead prosecutor in the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB)-Tanore trial, has warned defence lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah to fight the case in court and not in the public domain, especially not via the media.

Sri Ram, who was addressing presiding judge Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah on Tuesday morning (Oct 4), said that a media statement and press conference held by Shafee on Monday to discuss particulars of the case was an attack on the prosecution. 

“We were put in an injurious position as we cannot respond in public,” he said. 

He also warned that this is a “direct attack” on the prosecution, and also cautioned Shafee against making such public statements. 

“I must warn my learned friends that they cannot try the case via the media. I have to move barring the discussion in public,” he said, warning that he may make an application before Sequerah to bar such statements from being made. 

He also rubbished claims by Shafee that the prosecution is suppressing documents. 

“We are not surpressing evidence. That is not true. We need to be vindicated. I am not willing to tolerate this by the accused (former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak). Our case is being undermined in public,” he said.

At the press conference held at the Kuala Lumpur High Court entrance on Monday, Shafee highlighted testimonies of AmBank Jalan Raja Chulan branch manager R Uma Devi and Yap Wai Keat, the head of AmBank's private banking capital market desk.

The prosecution's 37 and 38th witnesses had verified monies coming into the former premier's account, which corresponded with the criminal breach of trust (CBT) charges Najib faces in this trial.

Speaking to reporters, Shafee highlighted inflows of funds into Najib's account in February and June 2011 amounting to about RM60.6 million (about US$20 million) from the Saudi royalty, namely Prince Faisal Turki.

This involves the first CBT charge the former premier faces in this trial. 

The defence claims that this was part of a gift to Najib from former Madinah province governor Saud Abdulaziz Majid Al Saud. 

At the press conference, Shafee said that the prosecution had only highlighted those two transactions, but did not highlight five other transactions of incoming funds to Najib's account between August 2011 and August 2012, allegedly from Prince Turki and the Ministry of Finance of Riyadh amounting to about US$180 million. 

He said that the defence had obtained this infomation from their own investigation, and that Sri Ram and the prosecution had failed to disclose or deliver these particulars. 

However, Sri Ram defended his position and told Sequerah that these five documents were not part of his case. 

“They are saying we suppressed the documents. We did not suppress the documents. My case is to prove that 1MDB money went to the accused (into Najib’s account) and he spent it,” he said, adding that he does not need to prove anything else. 

Sri Ram also added that in Najib’s SRC International Sdn Bhd case, these documents in question were not allowed to be introduced as evidence by then High Court judge Datuk Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali, as well as the Court of Appeal and the Federal Court. 

“These letters are the very same letters rejected by Nazlan, and subsequently the Court of Appeal and the Federal Court. If they are producing this in public, then they have to say that this was rejected [by the courts],” he said. 

Najib’s lawyer Wan Aizuddin Wan Mohammed then rebutted Sri Ram by saying that these documents were introduced in a separate trial, and have nothing to do with the current 1MDB trial.

“I have to object to raising any other documents in other cases. If you see, we haven’t touched on what Nazlan said in the SRC case…this is done to not pollute your mind with other cases. SRC is a different charge (case), and not directly related to the letters and how these letters are being utilised. These letters in question are subject to your findings and facts of law,” he said, adding that the letters are for the purview of this court and not any other court.

Wan Aizuddin also informed the court that Shafee will respond to Sri Ram on Wednesday morning, as the defence lawyer was unwell and not present in court on Tuesday. 

Najib, who is currently serving a 12-year jail sentence for his guilty verdict in the SRC trial, is also charged in the current 1MDB-Tanore trial with four counts of abuse of power and 21 counts of money laundering involving RM2.28 billion of 1MDB funds.

SRC was formerly a subsidiary of 1MDB.

The Edge is covering the trial live here.

Users of The Edge Markets app may tap here to access the live report.

Edited BySurin Murugiah
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