THE Kuala Lumpur High Court will adjourn Najib Razak’s SRC International trial in the later half of the morning tomorrow to allow the former prime minister to attend the debate in the Dewan Rakyat on lowering the voting age.

Justice Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali allowed an application by the defence for the adjournment at the end of today’s hearing. 

Nazlan agreed to the request “given the advance notice to attend Parliament and given the importance of the subject matter”. 

Lead defence counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah told the court that Najib’s presence is required as he is chairman of Barisan Nasional’s advisory board. 

Parliament will tomorrow debate and vote on a bill to amend the constitution to lower the voting age from 21 to 18.

The bill will also allow for those reaching 18 to be automatically registered as voters and be eligible to contest in elections.

Nazlan also tentatively fixed August 16 as a replacement hearing date should the prosecution not close its case before then.

Lawyers on both sides had previously agreed no to have the trial on Friday’s to allow them to attend to other cases. 

The House’s current session runs until this Thursday.  

The court’s decision comes after Najib previously failed to get the trial to be adjourned to allow him to attend legislative debates. 

On July 1, the former prime minister sought to attend the debate on a bill to compel MPs to declare their assets.

Nazlan dismissed the application, ruling that “even though he (Najib) is a member of parliament, he is accused of seven criminal charges”.

The judge said the court is not preventing Najib from attending Parliament on non-hearing days.

Attorney-General Tommy Thomas opposed the defence’s application, saying Najib must be treated the same way as other accused.

Nazlan, however, allowed Najib to participate in a briefing in Parliament scheduled for 1.30pm on July 3.

The briefing, for opposition MPs, was on the bill to lower the voting age. 

The hearing that day adjourned at 12.35pm, and continued at 2.50pm.

The defence has said it would apply to the Court of Appeal for an order to adjourn his criminal trial so that he can perform his “statutory duty” as a lawmaker in Parliament.

Najib’s charges are linked to RM4 billion in loans issued to SRC International in 2011 and 2012, for which he is accused of receiving RM42 million in his personal accounts in 2014 and 2015.

He is charged with three counts of criminal breach of trust, three counts of money-laundering and one count of abuse of power. 

The 66-year-old faces up to 20 years in jail if found guilty. – July 15, 2019.