NAJIB Razak’s corruption trial involving RM42 million from a former 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) subsidiary will begin in February.

Kuala Lumpur High Court judge Nazlan Mohd Ghazali has set trial dates for February 12 to 28 and March 4 to 29.

A second round of case management, which will set further trial dates, has been set for October 4.

The former prime minister is facing a total of seven charges; three for money laundering, three for criminal breach of trust and one for abusing his position.

He is alleged to have received in his personal bank accounts the RM42 million, purportedly stolen from 1MDB through the former subsidiary SRC International Sdn Bhd.

The prosecution had earlier argued for the trial to begin by November, to which Najib’s lead counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah said it was not agreed upon in July 4, when Najib was first charged by lawyers from the Attorney-General’s Chambers, led by A-G Tommy Thomas.

“I was the one who suggested November and onward, but they have said that was not possible. That is why we blocked February and March (for trial dates).

“I don’t see why we are in a desperate hurry to start this trial when I had my date free in November but the prosecution did not accept.

“They had said they won’t take November, but a couple of months later they changed their minds, and I’m double parking, in fact, I’m triple parking my diary,” Shafee said.

Deputy public prosecutor Hanafiah Zakaria had said that trial dates should not be “unreasonably delayed.”

Nazlan suggested the end of December for trial dates, to which Shafee said he is on extended leave.

“It’s not normally something that I do. I normally take two to three days leave. This is the first time I’ve taken leave in ten years.”

Nazlan the suggested trial dates from end of January, to which Shafee said he would have just concluded a major trial.

“I can’t be jumping from one case to another. I need time to recover and get ready,” Shafee said.

“But I thought you would have come back from vacation,” said Nazlan.

Case management dates were also postponed to October as Shafee said he had to attend a conference in Morocco.

“It’s work related,” the lawyer said. – August 10, 2018.