Najib seeks bank documents for his 1MDB case

by BERNAMA / pic by BERNAMA

FORMER Prime Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Najib Razak (picture) is seeking a court order to compel the prosecution to produce several banking statements and other documents to his defence team in his RM2.3 billion 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) case.

In the notice of motion filed yesterday at the Kuala Lumpur High Court by his defence team led by Tan Sri Dr Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, Najib, among others, claimed that the documents are under the custody of prosecution or other entities.

In an affidavit affirmed by Najib, 67, to support his application, the Pekan MP said the documents are vital and relevant to his 1MDB trial as they were not made available to his defence team before his case begins.

According to the affidavit, Najib claimed that some of the statements and documents are linked to the companies believed to be related to fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho, or Jho Low, and the family of former Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) governor Tan Sri Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz.

“Zeti Akhtar is listed as a witness in the 1MDB trial. As such, the bank documents are very relevant to my defence and the cross-examination of Zeti Akhtar and other prosecution witnesses pertaining to her credibility and her independence as she was the former governor of BNM relevant to the period in relation to my charges,” he said.

Najib added that the suppression of the bank documents has the effect of misrepresenting the truth and is a breach of his fundamental liberties as enshrined in the Federal Constitution and his right to a fair trial and equal before the law, as stated under Article 5 and 8 of the Federal Constitution.

In the notice of motion, among the documents he seeks from the prosecution are bank account statements for Aktis Capital Singapore Pte Ltd, Country Group Securities Public Co Ltd, Acme Time Ltd (BVI), Butamba Investments Ltd and Central Holdings Ltd.

Apart from bank statements, Najib is also seeking the companies’ certificate of incumbency, declarations of the identities of the companies’ beneficial owners, registers of members, registers of directors, and correspondence between the banks and the companies in respect of its transactions, including emails, telegraphic transfers, remittance forms, payment advice, transaction reports, payment orders, credit advice and bank memos.

The application compels the revelation of the documents from the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission and BNM, or any other entities having custody of the documents.

Deputy public prosecutor Ahmad Akram Gharib, when contacted, confirmed the prosecution has received a copy of the application. Justice Collin Lawrence Sequerah set March 26 for mention.

For the 1MDB trial, Justice Sequerah told the parties that the court intends to continue the trial in April if Najib’s appeal over the SRC International Sdn Bhd case does not take place at the Court of Appeal.

He then fixed April 19 to 22 for the 1MDB trial to resume in the event of the appeal hearing being vacated.