KUALA LUMPUR: The trial of former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and former Treasury secretary-general Tan Sri Mohd Irwan Serigar Abdullah, who are facing six charges of criminal breach of trust (CBT) totalling RM6.6bil, has been postponed yet again to July 22.
High Court Judge Muhammad Jamil Hussin allowed the application for postponement by Mohd Irwan’s lawyer Datuk K. Kumaraendran as the defence has yet to receive 48 other documents from the prosecution.
"Please make sure that all relevant documents are handed over to the defence before the trial begins. On June 4, the trial was postponed to today, but it still cannot proceed today. I don’t want to hear any more excuses for postponement due to failure to hand over the documents,” the judge said.
Earlier, Kumaraendran told the court that the prosecution has yet to hand over the 48 documents to the defence, which would prejudice his client.
"Most of the documents are the transcription of my client's recorded conversation that will be used as a defence in this case. In the letter submitted to the prosecution yesterday (June 18), we requested that the relevant documents be handed over to us," he said.
Lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, representing Najib, on the other hand, said that the defence of the former prime minister would depend on Mohd Irwan’s statement or testimony.
"Tan Sri Mohd Irwan can be deemed the CEO of the Finance Ministry and he has vast knowledge about the ministry. The documents that need to be handed over are very much relevant to my client,” said the veteran lawyer.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Muhammad Saifuddin Hashim Musaimi confirmed that there were 48 other documents classified as ‘secret and confidential’ which had yet to be declassified and handed over to the defence.
"These documents include those from the Land Public Transport Agency, Economic Planning Unity and Cabinet papers. Before they can be submitted as exhibits, these documents need to be declassified as they fall under the Official Secret Act.
"We (the prosecution) need a month for the documents to be declassified by the officials at the relevant agencies before we can hand them over to the defence,” he said.
With the postponement, Judge Muhammad Jamil also vacated the trial dates on June 20, 24 to 27, and on July 2 to 4, 9 to 11 and 15 to 18.
On Oct 24, 2018, Najib, 70, and Mohd Irwan, 66, pleaded not guilty to six charges of CBT of RM6.6 billion in government funds involving payments to the 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 in jail and whipping as well as a fine, upon conviction. - Bernama
