Defence told off over Najib’s tardiness

Bede Hong Timothy Achariam Bede Hong, Timothy Achariam Updated 6 years ago · Published on 5 Sep 2019 4:01PM · 2 Comments

Former prime minister Najib Razak faces four counts of power abuse and 21 counts of money-laundering in his 1MDB trial. – The Malaysian Insight pic by Seth Akmal, September 5, 2019.

NAJIB Razak’s lawyers have been reprimanded by the presiding 1Malaysia Development Bhd trial judge, after the former prime minister was late to the afternoon session of today’s hearing.

Lawyers from both sides were present in a timely manner after the court took a break for lunch. The hearing was supposed to resume at 2.30pm.

Najib, however, had yet to return, leading to counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah telling the court that his client was likely at mosque for prayers.

“Please impress upon your client the need to be present and punctual,” said Kuala Lumpur High Court judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah.

The court stood down for five minutes, after which Najib appeared.

Earlier today, Shafee himself showed up about 15 minutes late. He apologised, and cited “traffic issues”.

Najib, dressed in a grey suit, was accompanied by his daughter, Nooryana Najwa, this morning.

The 66-year-old is on trial for four counts of power abuse to enrich himself by RM2.3 billion, and 21 counts of laundering the same amount.

He is represented by a dozen lawyers, led by Shafee.

Gopal Sri Ram, a former Federal Court judge, leads the prosecution. – September 5, 2019.

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Comments

  • Coming late for work/court etc. and giving prayer as an excuse is a serious problem in Malaysia. My spouse as the Human Resource Manager of a very large firm faced this problem daily for more than 15 years. Sometimes urgent works and meetings are disrupted when Muslim employees come late. It needs a fatwa and detail explanation from Islamic religious department whether this behaviour to earn wages is Halal? It becomes like stigma on other good Muslim workers.

    Posted 6 years ago by Citizen Pencen · Reply

  • Plse la ... Mamak Shafie.. ni need to use the afternoon prayer what AJIB was held back . Thats just too lame of an excuse .
    Zohor is at 1.25 n ones doesnt spend more than 10 minutes lest he took an afternoon siesta on the deep n thick carpets amidst the fully Aircon prayer hall ... la la la ...

    Posted 6 years ago by Jeb FOSTER · Reply