FORMER prime minister Najib Razak’s joint trial with former 1Malaysia Development Berhad CEO Arul Kanda Kandasamy will begin on Monday, the high court ruled today.

They are accused of tampering with the auditor-general’s final report on 1MDB.

This will be Najib’s third trial relating to 1MDB.

Kuala Lumpur High Court judge Mohamed Zaini Mazlan today declined requests to defer dates for the case.

Zaini told the lawyers he is “hard pressed” to find other dates.

Previously, the prosecution had requested for the case to be deferred as former 1MDB CEO Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi is a witness in the ongoing 1MDB trial and would not be able to take the stand yet.

The prosecution said Shahrol is a key witness, hence the audit tampering case should only commence once he has finished being cross-examined in the 1MDB trial.

Zaini told the prosecution to start by calling other witnesses first.

He said he will not press for Shahrol to be called until his cross-examination in the 1MDB trial is over.

Najib is currently on trial on four counts of power abuse to enrich himself with RM2.3 billion from 1MDB and 21 counts of laundering the same amount.

The trial was adjourned today but the court will have a case management on December 13 to fix new dates.

Najib has also been ordered to enter his defence in the SRC International Sdn Bhd trial on charges of misappropriating RM42 million from the former 1MDB subsidiary.

The dates have been fixed from December 3 to 19.

Zaini previously set start November 18 to 29, and January 13 to 17 for the trial.

Najib has five criminal cases and they cannot go on simultaneously as he has to be present at court to ensure a fair trial.

He is charged with abuse of power over the alleged removal of parts of the final 1MDB audit report between February 22 and 26, 2016 at the Prime Minister’s Office complex in Putrajaya.

Najib was accused of using his position as prime minister to obtain gratification in the form of disciplinary, civil and criminal immunity related to 1MDB by ordering the amendments to the audit report before the finalised copy was presented to the Public Accounts Committee.

The offence under Section 23(1) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Act 2009 is punishable with a penalty of maximum 20 years in jail, and a fine of at least five times the amount of gratification or RM10,000, or whichever is higher.

Arul Kanda is charged with abetment. It carries the same penalty as Najib’s. – November 13, 2019.