ڤندعواان: نجيب يڠ سداڠ دبيچاراكن، بوكنڽ زيتي
TTF: Sertai saluran Telegram TTF di sini
The prosecution in Najib Razak’s 1MDB trial told the High Court that the former prime minister’s bid to obtain documents related to companies controlled by Zeti Akhtar Aziz’s family and fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho, as well as communications data from Goldman Sachs were frivolous attempts.
Ad hoc prosecutor Gopal Sri Ram said the documents that Najib was seeking – bank statements belonging to Low, or Jho Low, and companies owned by the Zeti’s family – were not relevant to the four abuse of power charges he was facing.
Najib’s lawyer, Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, said the prosecution should hand over the documents they had sought as the defence was entitled to cross-examine Zeti.
“The witness was a former (BNM) governor and her family received money from Jho Low and, thus, (this makes) her credibility an issue,” he said.
KUALA LUMPUR: The prosecution in Najib Razak’s 1MDB trial told the High Court that the former prime minister’s bid to obtain documents related to companies controlled by Zeti Akhtar Aziz’s family and fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho, as well as communications data from Goldman Sachs were frivolous attempts.
Ad hoc prosecutor Gopal Sri Ram said the documents that Najib was seeking – bank statements belonging to Low, or Jho Low, and companies owned by the Zeti’s family – were not relevant to the four abuse of power charges he was facing.
Najib is also accused of receiving RM2.28 billion deposited in his AmBank accounts between 2011 and 2014.
“It is the accused (Najib) who is on trial and not Zeti. Whichever family received (funds purportedly from Low) is not relevant to the charges,” Sri Ram told the court in objecting to Najib’s application.
He said Najib’s legal team had attempted to create a “collateral attack” against Zeti’s credibility as a witness. “It is up to the court to evaluate the weight of her evidence at the end of the prosecution’s case,” he said.
The former Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) governor is scheduled to testify later.
On Najib’s attempt to obtain former Goldman Sachs banker Tim Leissner’s mobile phone records, Sri Ram said the prosecution did not have the documents.
He rejected Najib’s contention that the fact that Leissner pleaded guilty in the US on charges of bribing “1MDB officials” had links to the charges here.
“Whether Leissner or Goldman Sachs bribed any witnesses is not relevant.
“The defence argued that there was a conspiracy between Jho Low and others at 1MDB but the accused also benefitted (from the funds),” he said.
Najib’s lawyer, Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, said the prosecution should hand over the documents they had sought as the defence was entitled to cross-examine Zeti.
“The witness was a former (BNM) governor and her family received money from Jho Low and, thus, (this makes) her credibility an issue,” he said.
Shafee argued that the 1MDB management staff did not properly perform their duty in safeguarding the funds, while BNM and Ambank had failed to alert Najib and raise red flags on the RM2.28 billion in his accounts.
“The fact that Zeti’s family received money from Jho Low showed she had been compromised and did not alert (Najib) as she was supposed to,” he said.
On the application to obtain Leissner’s phone records, Shafee said the defence wanted to establish if any potential witnesses had received kickbacks from the German national.
“We appointed lawyers in the US and we faced the same obstructions from the government there,” he said.
Judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah fixed July 12 to decide on the application.
Earlier today, Sri Ram told the court the prosecution may recall former witness Amhari Efendi Nazaruddin to tender some audio recordings.
“The recordings were conversations between the accused (Najib) and third parties, including an Abu Dhabi royal family member,” he said.
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