THE high court today rejected a last minute application by Najib Razak to postpone his trial.

Kuala Lumpur High Court judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali questioned why the motion on points of law was only filed now when the charges were filed against Najib last August.

“This motion was presented today while charges filed last August. No requirement to hear the motion now and hence the trial should start now,” he said.

Earlier, Najib’s lead counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah told the court that the defence wanted to raise an objection against the trial starting today. 

“We have filed a motion on points of law that should be taken before the trial starts. We have put in a certificate of urgency to look at those motions.” 

V Sithambaram for the prosecution however, said that this appeared to be a delaying tactic by the defence. 

“They say the charge is bad, we say it’s not bad. And if they are bad, we will take the risk.

“There’s no detriment to their case. They were in a position to challenge these charges as they were filed in August.

“This case can go on and their appeals can be heard later. This is just to delay the trial to listen to their motion.

“This trial should not be scuttled further,” he said.

Following the judge’s ruling that the trial should start today, charges are re-read to Najib.

Najib faces three counts of criminal breach of trust, three counts of money-laundering and one count of power abuse over sums amounting to RM42 million belonging to SRC.

If found guilty, Najib faces up to 20 years’ jail and a fine.

The former Umno president claimed trial to the charges last July and August.

The trial was initially slated for February 12 to March 29 but was put on hold twice after the Court of Appeal granted a stay of proceedings pending related appeals.

Najib also claimed trial in February to three separate charges related to SRC International, where he is accused of laundering a further RM47 million.

Prosecutors may later apply to try them jointly with the seven initial SRC International charges.

Following that, the prosecution called its first witness, 35-year-old Muhamad Akmaluddin Abdullah.

He is an assistant registrar at Companies Commission of Malaysia. – April 3, 2019