KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 11): Today will be a busy day for former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak at the High Court. Besides attending the ongoing 1MDB-Tanore trial, he is also set to hear the decision on whether he has to enter his defence in the RM42 million SRC International Sdn Bhd case.
At 9am, Najib will sit in the dock before Justice Collin Lawrence Sequerah as the cross-examination of former 1MDB chief executive officer (CEO) Datuk Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi continues.
Najib’s lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah indicated last week that he would probably take another two weeks to cross-examine Shahrol, who has been on the stand since Sept 23.
Shahrol took six days to read and explain his 270-page witness statement, during which time he testified how the decision-making in 1MDB was carried out when it conducted its business in 2009-2014.
Then, beginning on Oct 7, Muhammad Shafee and other defence lawyers started their cross-examination of the ex-CEO of 1MDB.
At about 10am, Najib will head to Justice Mohd Nazlan Ghazali's court to hear the decision on whether the prosecution for the SRC proceedings, led by Attorney-General Tan Sri Tommy Thomas, has succeeded in making a prima facie case against the former premier.
If the judge decides that a prima facie case has indeed been established, he will order Najib to enter his defence.
But if judge Mohd Nazlan agrees with the defence that there is no case to answer on the seven charges of money laundering, abuse of power and criminal breach of trust, Najib would be acquitted. Alternatively, the judge may acquit Najib on some of the charges but order him to enter defence on the other charges.
Justice Nazlan has set aside Dec 3-4, 9-12, and 16-19 as trial dates in the event Najib is ordered to enter his defence.
On Oct 23, both the prosecution and defence concluded their oral submissions at the end of the prosecution stage of the case.
Najib, who also served as the finance minister and as adviser emeritus in SRC when the RM42 million landed in his personal bank accounts, will have three choices should he be called to enter defence.
He may choose to exercise his right to remain silent, make an unsworn statement from the dock (in which case he cannot be cross-examined by the prosecution) or testify as a sworn witness ( in which case the prosecution can cross-examine him).
The highest-ranked politician in the country to face criminal charges, Najib was charged on July 4 last year and the trial began on April 3.
The trial, which has run for 58 days, saw 57 prosecution witnesses testifying against Najib.
The defence expects Najib to be freed as it is confident that the court will accept its argument that he was not aware that the RM42 million came from SRC and had believed that it was a donation from Saudi Arabia.
However, the prosecution has contended that Najib could not have been innocent, seeing that he did not report to the authorities the exorbitant sum that went into his accounts, and in fact utilised it for multiple purposes.
After the decision on the SRC case is delivered, Najib will head back to Justice Sequerah's court for the continuation of the 1MDB-Tanore trial,
In the SRC case, Najib is facing one count of abuse of power, three counts of criminal breach of trust and three counts of money laundering in relation to the alleged embezzlement of RM42 million from Minister of Finance Inc company SRC in 2014-2015.
Meanwhile, for the 1MDB-Tanore case, Najib is facing four counts of abuse of power for using his positions as the prime minister, finance minister and chairman of the 1MDB board of advisers to receive gratification. He also faces 21 counts of money laundering involving over RM4.3 billion.
The Edge is reporting the proceedings of the SRC trial live.