CONVICTED former prime minister Najib Razak’s 1MDB trial this morning was pushed to later in the afternoon after the presiding judge at Kuala Lumpur High Court was informed that six prosecution witnesses, scheduled to give evidence, were not present for various reasons.

Deputy public prosecutor Ahmad Akram Gharib informed the court that witnesses were either too sick to attend, were in quarantine, or were in meetings.

Judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah ordered a stand down until 2.30pm and ordered the prosecution to call other witnesses from its list.

Akram said the 12th prosecution witness, former 1MDB chief financial officer Azmi Tahir, had contracted a fever and provided a medical certificate.

“Unfortunately, I was informed (by Azmi) at 8.30am. He was outside (the court), I had asked him to come regardless of his physical state.

“I saw that his eyes were red, and his body (temperature) was hot,” Akram told the court, adding that Azmi is not a Covid-19 patient.

He provided the court with the medical certificate and continued that the other witnesses on the line-up were also unavailable to replace Azmi today.

“I immediately called five other witnesses. Audit firm KPMG managing partner Johan Idris is in London and only available after January 29.

“Najib’s special officer Wan Ahmad Shihab Wan Ismail has had diarrhoea for the past three days and he cannot get out of bed.

“The 13th prosecution witness, former 1MDB director Ismee Ismail, just came back from umrah and is in quarantine,” Akram said.

He added that 1MDB’s former company secretary Lim Poh Seng is having his booster shot today.

“Meanwhile, former company secretary for TRX City Sdn Bhd, Goh Gaik Kim, has to attend two very important meetings today. I cannot ask her to cancel,” Akram said.

The judge interjected: “You can’t ask her to cancel but the court can.”

Akram then said a subpoena was not issued to Goh.

After hearing the reasons, Collin was determined not to “waste the court’s time” and asked the prosecution to “try and get one of them (a witness)” today.

Akram responded: “I can’t think of other witnesses who can be called. Most of them, the witness statement has not been served.”

Legal teams are required to give the other side 14 days to prepare a rebuttal for witness statements.

Collin said that it does not matter and if the defence is unwilling to “waive the requirement,” then an oral testimony can be made.

Najib is facing 25 charges of abuse of power and money-laundering involving RM2.28 billion in 1MDB funds, which were allegedly deposited into his AmBank accounts between February 2011 and December 2014.

The 68-year-old Pekan MP faces up to 20 years in prison if found guilty. – January 6, 2022.