Najib may face jail time as prosecution seeks to impeach him for difference in MACC, witness statements

KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 6): The prosecution in the SRC International Sdn Bhd trial is seeking to impeach Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak for the difference in the former prime minister's statements made to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) and his testimony.

Deputy public prosecutor (DPP) Datuk V Sithambaram made an application for impeachment of the credibility of the witness under Section 145(1) and Section 155(c) of the Evidence Act, after questioning the witness on the contradiction relating to several Minister of Finance Inc (MoF Inc) minutes of meeting documents, which Najib said he had signed.

"What you told the MACC and what you say in the supplementary statement with regard to the four exhibits is very different," said the DPP.

"I agree, but there is an explanation," answered Najib.

Sithambaram then asked the court to look at the evidence and consider the contradictions.

"If your Lordship sees it as a minor and trivial difference then we will just carry on," said Sithambaram.

On the other hand, Najib's senior counsel Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah said an impeachment can only be done if no explanation is provided for the contradiction in the witness' statements and argued that the witness has already explained the difference in his statements.

He added that an impeachment is a laborious and time consuming process and should not be taken lightly.

However, Sithambaram said the explanation provided by Najib is not a true explanation.

Justice Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali asked for both the prosecution and the defence to make their submissions on the matter.

If the judge allows an application to impeach, this would lead to a trial within the SRC trial to determine if Najib is a credible witness.

If Najib is found to be not credible, he can be sent to jail or fined.

In December, during cross-examination by Attorney General Tan Sri Tommy Thomas, Najib testified that he may have signed the MoF Inc shareholders meeting minutes to have Article 117 included in SRC's memorandum and articles of association.

Meanwhile, in his MACC statement, Najib stated that he had seen the documents before and that he was the one who signed the documents.

However, when asked again by Sithambaram later, the former premier said he was not sure whether he signed it.

When he was reminded that he was contradicting what he had said in the witness statement, the former premier said to use his testimony as per his witness statement.

The Edge is reporting the proceedings of the SRC trial live.

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

Click here for more property stories.