News by Ahmad Naqib Idris

Ali, who was testifying at the High Court today in the audit tampering trial of former premier Datuk Seri Najib Razak and Arul, said this when asked about his use of the word “mendesak” (to urge) in his witness statement.

Najib’s lawyer Tan Sri Shafee Abdullah had earlier told the court of the defence’s application to recuse Sri Ram in the case. Shafee argued that the matter should be resolved first because if the court were to proceed with the trial, it would be as if the application is non-existent or trivialised.

A member of Najib's defence team came down with high fever and is undertaking Covid-19 testing.

Justice Datuk Muhammad Jamil Hussin said the prosecution had failed to show that the money, which had been frozen, was either wholly or partly from former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak, as the evidence showed many transactions going in and out of Yayasan PBAKM's account since the RM100,000 cheque was written on Oct 19, 2013.

In a statement, the lawyer said Attorney-General Tan Sri Idrus Harun needs to explain whether the charges made against the former Sabah chief minister on Nov 5, 2018, were baseless by law, or whether the discharge amounting to acquittal order made earlier today contradicts the previous findings of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).

"What has happened to me and my family, although it was due to political differences, I take as a test from God."

"Following instructions from the AG's Chambers. The prosecution intends to withdraw all charges made against the accused," said deputy public prosecutor Datuk Azhar Abdul Hamid.

Addressing the defence's assertion that Najib had no knowledge of the going-ons in his AmBank accounts, appointed prosecutor Datuk V Sithambaram told the High Court that the evidence demonstrated otherwise.

He said that based on the BlackBerry Messenger transcripts adduced as evidence, Jho Low had full knowledge of Najib's spending pattern and the amounts that the then prime minister was about to spend.

At first, the prosecution in Najib's SRC case wanted the three money laundering charges involving RM27 million to be tried together with the former premier's seven other charges involving RM42 million in SRC, but the plan was changed due to a procedural issue.

In his submission today, lawyer Harvinderjit Singh claimed the prosecution had been pivoting its case since the start of the trial, and that its latest pivot was that fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho (Jho Low), Najib's former private secretary Datuk Azlin Alias and former SRC managing director and CEO Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil, were tasked with putting money into the former premier's account.