Court to go through Najib's contradictory statements before deciding on impeachment

KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 6): The High Court has decided that it will go through the contradictory statements made by Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak before deciding on the impeachment application made by the prosecution.

Justice Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali said the application for the impeachment was "not without merit" after hearing submissions from both sides.

During submissions, deputy public prosecutor (DPP) Datuk V Sithambaram said the former premier had this morning agreed that there were contradictions between his statement made to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) and what he said in court, with the DPP then urging the court to look at the statements to decide whether they are materially different.

"If they are materially different, we have to proceed [with impeachment].

"This is not a frivolous application, this needs to be looked at," said Sithambaram.

Meanwhile, defence lawyer Harvinderjit Singh said there is no clear and direct contradiction in the statements made by Najib and argued that an explanation was already given prior to the prosecution's impeachment application.

He cited the witness statement and said the witness cannot confirm the authenticity of the documents, because he has not seen the original documents.

The lawyer said Najib never denied signing the document but had doubted the authenticity of his signatures and added that the application is an attempt by the prosecution to circumvent the need for an expert to verify the documents.

"On that basis, I must say that the application is frivolous," said Harvinderjit.

Sithambaram retorted, saying that he has been misunderstood by the defence and pointed out that the impeachment application was made because Najib had contradicted himself earlier in the morning.

"How can the defence say that [the contradiction] has been explained when it only happened this morning?" asked the DPP.

Nazlan then said he will go through the documents and give his decision on whether there is a material contradiction when proceedings resume at 2pm.

Earlier today, 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 minutes of meeting documents, which Najib said he had signed.

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 jailed or fined.

The ex-premier is currently battling seven counts of criminal breach of trust, abuse of power and money laundering of RM42 million from SRC.

If convicted, he is liable to a 20-year jail term and a fine of RM5 million or five times the amount of money laundered, whichever is higher.

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

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