Najib’s 1MDB trial ends early for Parliament vote


Kamles Kumar

Former prime minister Najib Razak’s vote is crucial as Perikatan Nasional enjoys only a slim majority. – The Malaysian Insight pic by Kamal Ariffin, August 17, 2020.

FORMER prime minister Najib Razak has been excused from his 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) graft trial at the Kuala Lumpur High Court today to enable him to vote in Dewan Rakyat.

Judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah postponed the trial until September 1 after lead defence counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah applied to have his client excused, as several important bills are due to be voted on.

Among them is the Supply (Reallocation of Appropriated Expenditure) Bill 2020 and Temporary Measures for Government Financing (Coronavirus Disease 2019 [Covid-19]) Bill 2020.

Sequerah excused Najib at 11.15am, after deputy public prosecutor Ahmad Akram Gharib agreed to the defence’s request.

Najib, 67, is Pekan MP with the Perikatan Nasional government, which has a slim majority of 113 votes in the 222-seat Dewan Rakyat.

In the 1MDB trial, he is facing four counts of power abuse to enrich himself with RM2.3 billion from the state investment firm, and 21 counts of laundering the same amount. – August 17, 2020.


Sign up or sign in here to comment.


Comments


  • Hard to be convinced that everything is fair in the country, while we can see how Najib has been favoured for a lot of things starting from this (MACC) investigation to trial ...

    vs ordinary citizen or an ex-Finance minister.

    Posted 5 years ago by Tavern Folks · Reply