Najib refuses to be in the dock during case mention
KUALA LUMPUR: Former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak (pic) was seen refusing to enter the dock during a mention over his graft and money laundering case at the Sessions Court here.
Najib, who appeared before judge Azura Alwi, sat on a chair next to the dock instead.
The prosecution, led by Datuk Seri Gopal Sri Ram, had signalled to the court police to usher Najib to stand in the dock when proceedings started on Friday (Nov 16).
The police approached Najib and asked him to move from the chair but the request fell on deaf ears.
He remained on the chair until the proceedings ended 15 minutes later.
During the mention, Sri Ram informed the court that the prosecution still have several documents to be served to the defence.
He also told the court that High Court judge Justice Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali had made an order on Oct 31 for the case to be transferred to his court.
Judge Azura then fixed Nov 27 for the case to be mentioned at the High Court.
DPP Ahmad Akram Gharib from the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission later told the press that the prosecution had submitted 23 documents relating to money laundering to the court.
"We also had submitted 367 documents for the predicate charges including minutes of meetings on 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) to the court," he said.
On Najib's refusal to be inside the dock, Ahmad Akram said the accused should have complied with the police's request.
"He is an accused person (orang kena tuduh) and not a person being summoned (orang kena saman)," Ahmad Akram said.
A summoned person (OKS) usually sits on a chair next to the dock when appearing before the court.
Najib is facing 25 charges of graft and money laundering relating to transactions amounting to RM2.3bil that are linked to 1MDB.
Najib, 64, pleaded not guilty to four charges of graft that allegedly occurred at the AmIslamic Bank Bhd branch in Jalan Raja Chulan here while in his position as a civil servant, namely as prime minister, finance minister and chairman of the 1MDB advisory board.
He is alleged to have, on four occasions between Feb 24, 2011 and Dec 19, 2014, received RM60,626,839.43, RM90,899,927.28, RM2,081,476,926 and RM49,930,985.70 in bribes.
Najib also claimed trial to 21 charges under the Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorism Financing Act 2001.
According to the first nine charges, he had between March 22 and April 10, 2013 received a total of RM2.08bil in monies from illegal activities transferred into his account from Tanore Finance Corporation through the Falcon Private Bank in Singapore.
Five charges stated that he transferred back out the monies from illegal activities – amounting to RM2.03bil – to an account belonging to Tanore Finance Corporation.
Two charges stated that Najib transferred monies from illegal activities – amounting to RM162mil – to another AmIslamic Bank account in his name.
The other charges stated that he used the money to make payments to various parties, including RM20mil to Umno, RM100,000 to Umno Batu Kawan, RM246,000 to an individual named Lim Soon Peng, RM2mil to ORB Solutions Sdn Bhd and RM303,000 to Semarak Consortium Satu Sdn Bhd.
Read more at https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2018/11/16/najib-refuses-to-be-in-the-dock-during-case-mention/#cTU5WDpy75IvqoXg.99
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