Najib fights bid to transfer case to Putrajaya
Ho Kit Yen
-October 31, 2018 5:06 PM=
KUALA LUMPUR: Former prime minister Najib Razak is opposing the prosecution’s move to transfer the case against him relating to SRC International to the Palace of Justice in Putrajaya.He wants the case to be heard at the Kuala Lumpur High Court.
Fiat prosecutor Sulaiman Abdullah informed Kuala Lumpur High Court judge Nazlan Ghazali today that Najib’s lawyers had written to Chief Judge of Malaya Zaharah Ibrahim to object to the prosecution’s transfer proposal.
He said this during case management over matters such as the handing of documents pertaining to the case to the defence.
Previously, Sulaiman had told the court the prosecution wanted the SRC-related case to be heard at the Palace of Justice as the courtrooms there were bigger and the public could have better access.
He told Nazlan today: “We are still waiting for her (Zaharah) reply on this.”
Speaking to reporters outside the court, Najib’s lawyer Shafee Abdullah said there was no need to hold the trial in Putrajaya as there were sufficient courtrooms here.
“We have 38 courtrooms here for the High Court, 27 courtrooms for the Sessions Court, 30 courtrooms for magistrates’ courts and another 12 empty courtrooms compared with Putrajaya which only has eight courtrooms,” he said.
Sulaiman also told the court the prosecution team had served the relevant trial documents, in 23 volumes, on Oct 18, to the defence.
“We have complied with Section 51A of the Criminal Procedure Code to furnish documents to the defence lawyers,” he added.
The court set Nov 29 for case mention again, and to hear Najib’s request to obtain more documents from the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).
Meanwhile, Nazlan allowed Najib’s bid to transfer the case against him involving 1MDB-related charges of corruption and money laundering from the Sessions Court to the High Court.
Fiat prosecutor Gopal Sri Ram, who is leading the prosecution in Najib’s 1MDB case, told the court he had no objection to the transfer.
Najib was charged in July with money laundering and CBT offences in the transfer of RM42 million into his account from former 1MDB unit SRC International.
He was also accused of abusing his power as the prime minister by giving government guarantees on SRC International’s RM4 billion loan from the Retirement Fund Inc.
A further 25 charges were levelled against him last month in connection with the alleged transfer of RM2.28 billion in 1MDB-related funds into his bank account before the 2013 general election.
He was also charged with abusing his power in a bid to obtain bribes amounting to over RM2 billion from February 2011 to December 2014.
In addition, Najib and his former Treasury secretary-general Irwan Serigar Abdullah were slapped with six CBT charges amounting to RM6.6 billion last week.
The RM6.6 billion CBT charges are related to land acquisition and settlement payment to International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC).
When asked about a possible live television broadcast for Najib’s trial, Shafee said he supported the idea.
“We can let people know what the cases are about,” he said.
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