KUALA LUMPUR: According to the High Court, the prosecution in the trial of Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak’s 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) case plans to call at least four additional witnesses to testify. This includes Jasmine Loo Ai Swan, former general counsel of 1MDB, as well as analysts from Bank Negara Malaysia, two investigating officers from the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), and the police. The trial judge, Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah, inquired about the number of witnesses the prosecution intended to call after Zeti Akhtar Aziz, the current 46th witness for the prosecution, finished her testimony.
On July 12, Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail confirmed that Jasmine Loo was arrested by the police on July 7 to assist in the investigation into the misappropriation of 1MDB funds. Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, lead counsel for Najib, stated in court that he wanted to reserve cross-examining Zeti. He made this request after Zeti confirmed that she had met former AmBank group managing director Ashok Ramamurthy once, when he took over the position after being introduced to her by Cheah Tek Kuang during a courtesy call. Muhammad Shafee claimed that Ashok had sent Zeti updates on Najib’s account, but Zeti denied this allegation. Zeti reiterated her previous testimony that she informed Cheah during their first meeting in 2011 that any matters regarding Najib’s account should be directed to the then-BNM deputy governor.
Following this, Muhammad Shafee applied to Judge Sequerah to request an alleged statement recorded by the MACC from Ashok in Singapore. The counsel then stated that he would like to end the cross-examination of Zeti at that point, pending his application. DPP Ahmad Akram, however, interjected, stating that he was currently unaware of any such statement from Ashok. He clarified that Ashok, who was not initially considered as a witness by the prosecution before the charges were filed in this trial, is not involved in this context. The judge instructed Zeti to return to court later.
Najib, 70, faces four charges of using his position to obtain bribes amounting to RM2.3 billion belonging to 1MDB, as well as 21 charges of money laundering involving the same amount. The trial will continue today. — Bernama
Credit: The Star : News Feed
