NAJIB Razak was today given permission by the Kuala Lumpur High Court to attend Parliament to debate the royal address this afternoon after receiving a letter from Dewan Rakyat Speaker Azhar Harun.

The 1Malaysia Development Bhd trial will continue through lunch before adjourning for the day, ruled justice Collin Lawrence Sequerah.

“I have looked at the letter and digested the speaker’s letter sent to me,” Sequerah said, addressing defence counsel Tania Scivetti.

“I had an opportunity to look at the speaker’s letter and what I’ve decided to do is to push through lunch and end today’s proceedings at 3.15pm.

“I understand your client is supposed to be there at 3.30pm. Parliament is just around the corner.”

Today was the second attempt by the defence to adjourn the trial to allow Najib to attend Parliament.

Sequerah said he was not provided the takwim (Parliament orders of the day) yesterday.

“I didn’t know what the schedule was. I was not informed earlier. I don’t want to waste time. I want to put it on the record that, unless I am informed well in advance, I will not be entertaining any request for any similar adjournment.”

Lead defence counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah was not present in court today.

Yesterday, Shafee made an application for Najib to speak before Parliament during question time. The lawyer said previous MPs, such as the late Karpal Singh, have been excused from trials.

Shafee had referred to Section 32 the Houses of Parliament (Privileges and Powers) Act 1952 to infer that preventing an MP from attending to his duty can be subject to contempt of Parliament.

“Does this mean if I do not allow this, I can be cited for contempt?” Sequerah had responded before rejecting the application yesterday.

Najib, who turns 67 next Thursday, is on trial for four counts of power abuse to enrich himself with RM2.3 billion from 1MDB and 21 counts of laundering the same amount. He faces up to 20 years’ prison upon conviction.

Sequerah had previously allowed the trial to be vacated on Tuesday, allowing Najib to participate in a parliamentary debate – the first in seven months since the Pakatan Harapan government fell and was replaced by the Perikatan Nasional coalition, led by Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin.

Muhyiddin’s government had this week scraped through with a two-vote majority in the Dewan Rakyat to dismiss former speaker Mohamad Ariff Md Yusof, who was replaced by former Election Commission chief Azhar Azizan Harun. – July 16, 2020.