THE SRC International trial continued after lawyers applied in a separate court this morning for a delay in the 1Malaysia Development Bhd trial, which was set to begin today and proceed until November 14.  

Kuala Lumpur High Court judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah, who presides over the 1MDB trial, insisted that the case begin as soon as next Monday. 

He said, however, he will hear further arguments during case management on Thursday from lawyers who want the 1MDB trial to begin on September 3.

In the 1MDB case, former prime minister Najib Razak faces 25 criminal charges involving RM2.28 billion of public funds. 

This afternoon, the prosecution’s 57th and final witness, Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) investigating officer Rosli Husain began his testimony. 

Rosli is expected to go through the documents seized by Bank Negara during its raid of AmBank’s Raja Chulan branch in Kuala Lumpur on July 5, 2015. The bank held Najib’s personal accounts and SRC International’s company accounts that include witness statements. 

Rosli testified last week that fugitive financier Low Taek Jho and former SRC International CEO Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil promised to return to Malaysia and assist in the investigations after their statements were taken overseas.

Low was questioned in Abu Dhabi on November 27, 2015, while Nik Faisal was questioned twice in Jakarta in October 2015. Both men are still at large.

Low left Malaysia on May 29, 2015, while Nik Faisal left the country on May 7, 2018, two days before the 14th general election.

On why the MACC did not impose bail on the duo, Rosli told the court: “As both (Low and Nik Faisal) had their statements recorded and because they gave the commitment, we were confident that they would return to Malaysia to cooperate in this trial.”

Immigration Department placed both men on a travel blacklist on May 14 last year, with arrest warrants issued on May 22.

Rosli told the court an Interpol red notice was issued in Hong Kong, Macau, Thailand, Indonesia, Myanmar and China. 

Despite an alert by Bukit Aman’s National Central Bureau to its Hong Kong counterpart that Low was believed to be at the Maggie & Rose Family Members Club in Repulse Bay, Hong Kong authorities never arrested the 38-year-old Penang-born businessman. 

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 accounts in 2014 and 2015.

The 66-year-old is charged with three counts of criminal breach of trust, three counts of money-laundering and one count of abuse of power.

Najib’s legal team is led by prominent Umno lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah while Attorney-General Tommy Thomas leads the prosecution.

The Malaysian Insight brings you today’s proceedings live:

5.41pm: Court adjourns to 9am tomorrow.

5.15pm: Shafee tells judge Nazlan that what the witness is saying amounts to hearsay.

Sithambaram says his team will make a submission on this later.

5.14pm: Rosli tells the court that the MACC took Najib’s statements about three times between 2015 and 2018. 

He says Najib was shown documents bearing his signatures. Najib had said then that the signatures were his and not forgeries.

3.25pm: The DPP is still verifying documents and statements from Najib’s accounts.

2.50pm: Court is in session with Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission investigating officer Senior Assistant Commissioner Rosli Hussain taking the stand.

The DPP is going through Najib’s AmBank account statements for him to verify. – August 19, 2019.