THE Kuala Lumpur High Court today fixed November 6 to deliver its decision on the prosecution’s bid to amend three charges involving power abuse and money-laundering in Najib Razak’s 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) trial.

Judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah set the date after the former prime minister’s lead counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah told the judge that the defence team needed more time to prepare submissions against the prosecution’s amendment bid.

“My Lord, we need more time to assemble the factual matrix of the case in relation to the three charges that prosecutors wanted to amend.

“We have noticed that apart from people like former 1MDB chief executive officer Mohd Hazem Abdul Rahman, former Bank Negara Malaysia governor Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz, former Ambank relationship manager Joanna Yu and Ambank branch manager R. Uma Devi, there are few more witnesses that we have to go through to complete the factual matrix,” he said.

Meanwhile, deputy public prosecutor Kamal Baharin Omar submitted that the prosecution had no objections to this and added that it also needed time to prepare their  submissions. 

“My Lord, the prosecution’s witness on standby today is Anti-Money Laundering Criminal Investigation Division assistant director Foo Wei Min. But he is under medical leave as he is ill with gout,” said the prosecutor.

After hearing the matter, Sequerah then vacated today’s proceedings to November 6 and said the decision on the prosecution’s bid to amend the three charges would be ruled on the said date.

“On that date, I will deliver my decision for both the amendment to the three charges and admissibility of documentation, then we can proceed with Foo,” the judge said.

The admissibility of documentation issue refers to the defence team’s objections against the prosecutors’ intent to admit several bank documents linked to Foo’s testimony.

Last Tuesday, the prosecution team told the High Court that they wished to amend one of Najib’s four power abuse charges and two of his 21 money-laundering charges, following the recent testimonies of two witnesses – Bank Negara Malaysia analyst Adam Ariff Mohd Roslan and Foo.

For the power abuse charge, the prosecution wanted to amend the amount from RM49.9 million to RM44.6 million, while for the money-laundering charges, the prosecution sought to amend the 10th charge, which Najib was accused of committing by transferring money from unlawful activities, by reducing the amount involved from RM652.6 million to RM515.7 million.

Apart from that, the prosecution also wanted to amend the 21st charge involving the transfer of funds, by reducing the amount of RM12.4 million to RM11.4 million.

The defence team had objected to the application.

Najib, 70, faces four charges of using his position to obtain bribes amounting to RM2.3 billion belonging to 1MDB and 21 charges of money-laundering involving the same amount. – Bernama, October 26, 2023.