KUALA LUMPUR: The RM6.6bil criminal breach of trust (CBT) trial involving Datuk Seri Najib Razak and Tan Sri Mohd Irwan Serigar Abdullah at the High Court has been pushed to June 19.
The trial was initially scheduled to begin on Tuesday (June 4).
Justice Muhammad Jamil Hussin fixed the new date after allowing an application by lawyers Datuk K. Kumaraendran and Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah to postpone the trial to give time for both parties to prepare and organise the documents for the trial.
The court was also informed that 100 documents have not been passed to the defence.
Justice Muhammad Jamil said the court gave consideration for the prosecution to study the documents before handing them over to the defence.
"Two weeks is enough for the defence to study the documents and prepare its defence," he said here today.
Earlier, Muhammad Shafee, who represented Najib, requested for the court to postpone the trial as there were documents that have not been served by the prosecution.
"We expect the prosecution will serve us (the documents by today). There are seven volumes of documents that needed to be reviewed.
"These missing documents will trigger a lot of adjournments should the trial start today.
"Unless and until we see how the prosecution navigates their case through their documents, we cannot see the light in our defence," said Muhammad Shafee.
Meanwhile, Kumaraendran, who appeared for Mohd Irwan, said that some documents they were expecting to receive were Cabinet meeting memos, emails, and witness statements.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Muhammad Saifuddin Hashim Musaimi said the prosecution did not object to the postponement if it meant a smoother trial.
He said the prosecution has been handing over documents in stages since 2018 until 2021.
On Oct 25, 2018, Najib, 70, and Mohd Irwan Serigar, 66, pleaded not guilty to six charges of CBT amounting to RM6.6bil in government funds involving payments to International Petroleum Investment Company (Ipic).
Najib and Mohd Irwan were jointly accused of committing all the offences at the Finance Ministry Complex, Putrajaya between Dec 21, 2016, and Dec 18, 2017.
They were charged under Section 409 of the Penal Code read together with Section 34 of the same Code, which provides for a maximum of 20 years’ jail and whipping as well as a fine upon conviction.
