FORMER prime minister Najib Razak is seeking to nullify the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) corruption trial, the Kuala Lumpur High Court heard today.

Najib, currently incarcerated for corruption linked to SRC International, also wants the court to discharge and acquit him of all charges relating to the misappropriation of funds belonging to 1MDB.

Najib’s counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah said this when applying to recuse trial judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah today. 

Shafee said this was following Sequerah’s disclosure on his connection with recently arrested 1MDB former general counsel Jasmine Loo Ai Swan. 

Sequerah, who is now a judge at the Court of Appeal, presided as High Court judge in the 1MDB trial, yesterday said Loo was his partner in a law firm more than a decade ago.  

Sequerah made the disclosure following Shafee’s inquiry whether Loo would be called as a witness in the trial.

Loo’s name was heavily mentioned during Najib’s ongoing corruption trial for allegedly misappropriating RM2.3 billion from 1MDB.

It was reported that Loo was among the proxies working with fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho, better known as Jho Low, to misappropriate millions of ringgit from the sovereign state fund.

Loo, who became a fugitive following the fall of the Barisan Nasional government in 2018, was listed as a wanted person.

Najib, 70, is facing four charges of using his position to obtain bribes totalling RM2.3 billion from 1MDB funds and 21 charges of money-laundering involving the same amount. – August 14, 2023.