News by Timothy Achariam

Testifying in Ahmad Zahid's corruption trial in which he is also being accused of money laundering, lawyer Muralidharan Balan Pillai said the account was opened at a bank's branch in Bangsar for running of Yayasan Al-Falah in 2016.

According to the ninth prosecution witness in the 1MDB-Tanore trial, former 1MDB CEO Datuk Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi, Hazem's curriculum vitae (CV) was handed to him by fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho (Jho Low), who claimed that his appointment was recommended by Najib's principal private secretary, the late Datuk Azlin Alias.

Testifying on the witness stand at the 1MDB-Tanore trial, its former chief executive officer Datuk Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi said the amount was raised by its subsidiary 1MDB Global Investments Ltd, a special purpose vehicle (SPV) set up to raise funds.

The money was to be used as seed capital for the development of the Tun Razak Exchange (TRX) project along Jalan Tun Razak.

Najib must also report to the nearest police station on the 1st and 15th of every month.

Judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali: "In my view, the accused must still provide a good reason to provide for postponement. I don't consider that (Najib's reasoning) to be a valid reason. As such, this court will now proceed to hear mitigation.

Lawyer Tan Sri Shafee Abdullah had applied for the delay of the mitigation for Najib’s sentencing citing the Courts of Judicature Act which he claimed stipulated a stay of conviction and sentence.

“I want justice. I want to clean my name,” he said.

In a brief judgement, the judge said that the charges brought against Ahmad are not groundless and have some merits.

“Therefore, the court rejects the application for this criminal application,” he said. 

Najib applied to strike out the charge after Justice Mohamed Zaini Mazlan permitted the prosecution to amend the charge. The judge ruled that the amendment does not constitute a prejudice to Najib.

As Najib was exiting the court, he was welcomed by his supporters — amounting to around 20, who were waiting for him outside the complex with two birthday cakes. He stopped by to cut the cakes and shared a few bites with them.