News by Ahmad Naqib Idris

Najib said this today at the High Court here during the SRC International Sdn Bhd trial before High Court Judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali. Najib is facing seven charges involving the misappropriation of RM42 million from 1Malaysia Development Bhd's former subsidiary SRC.

Responding to deputy public prosecutor (DPP) Datuk V Sithambaram's suggestion that the running of SRC was a miserable failure, Najib said "we did not know it was so" at that time.

The document in question — labelled P530 by the court — claimed to be original by Ismee, contains Najib's instructions to SRC's board, including opening accounts at specific banks and the transfer of the company's first RM2 billion loan obtained from Retirement Fund Inc (KWAP) in 2011 to banks in Switzerland.

After an in-chambers case management today, Najib's lawyer Muhammad Farhan Shafee told the press that Justice Datuk Ahmad Bache has set Jan 24 for the hearing of the former premier's application for a stay of proceedings, as well as the IRB's application to obtain a summary judgement.

Tengku Adnan, also known as Ku Nan, sought to suspend the proceedings of the case until his appeal to review the tax assessment with IRB is settled.

During cross-examination today, deputy public prosecutor (DPP) Datuk V Sithambaram grilled the former premier over the documents that contained his signature and whether he had knowledge of the nature of the said documents, labelled as exhibits D535, P501 and D534.

Justice Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali made the decision after the lunch break today following his inspection of the statements in question.

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

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.

“The proposed disposal will enable Guocoland group to realise its investment in the property and to focus on its core business of property development.”