SHAH ALAM, June 26 — The temporary evidence room used to store evidence taken from the Cradle Fund chief executive officer (CEO) Nazrin Hassan’s bedroom did not have a written standard operating procedure (SOP) to control the entry/exit of evidence from the room, the high court was told today.

The prosecution’s 23rd witness, Fire Officer Che Daud Adli Yusof@Che Man, 55, said ever since he took over the responsibility of securing the room in 2016, no efforts were made to record all types of evidence kept in the room, let alone the name of officers who brought it in or took it out.

"The temporary evidence room is used to keep all evidence taken from any crime scene if the lab is closed for public holidays. The room equipped with air-conditioning unit and a chiller,” he said during cross-examination by lead defence counsel Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah before Judge Datuk Ab Karim Ab Rahman.

Earlier, Shafee asked the fire officer whether there was a specific SOP for the room located at the Fire Investigation Division’s Office of the Selangor Fire and Rescue Department headquarters to ensure all evidence remain untainted.

Meanwhile, Che Daud Adli said he was on leave when the case’s investigating officer came to keep some evidence in the room.

"On June 14, 2018, I was on leave and returned to my hometown in Kelantan when the investigating officer Abdul Halim Zulkefeli contacted me saying that he wanted to keep some evidence in the temporary evidence room as the lab was closed for Hari Raya. I told him exactly where he could find the duplicate key to the room, which I hid in a drawer,” he said.

Che Daud Adli said apart from him, two of his immediate superiors also knew the location of the duplicate key.

On March 12, Samirah, a former senior executive at the Intellectual Property Corporation of Malaysia (MyIPO), and two teenagers aged 17 and 14 were charged, along with Indonesian citizen, Eka Wahyu Lestari, who is still at large, with Nazrin’s murder.

They were accused of committing the offence at a house in Mutiara Homes, Mutiara Damansara, between 11.30pm on June 13, 2018, and 4am on June 14, 2018.

They were charged under Section 302 of the Penal Code, read together with Section 34 of the same law, and face the mandatory death sentence if found guilty.

The trial continues Monday. — Bernama