KUALA LUMPUR, June 13 — Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s trial over RM42 million in SRC International Sdn Bhd funds was halted today after the defence applied for an adjournment over alleged contradictions between a witness’s testimony and written statement.

Najib’s lawyer, Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, told the judge that former SRC International Sdn Bhd director Tan Sri Ismee Ismail’s oral testimony deviated from what was previously recorded, and applied for the adjournment.

During cross-examination, Ismee told the court that SRC International’s board had acted on the advice of a shareholder’s resolution rather Najib as the firm’s adviser emeritus as he asserted in his witness statement tendered in court earlier this week.

“We have come to a crossroad in relation to certain issues which requires certain documents, some of them are in the bundle not produced by the prosecution or defence and we need to look into that to make up our mind whether further areas of contradiction is possible.

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“We will not only require to look at many resolutions but also transcripts and then take instructions from our client (Najib),” he said, adding that the application was necessary.

Ismee is the 39th prosecution witness of Najib’s ongoing trial involving seven charges of abuse of position, criminal breach of trust and money-laundering over RM42 million of SRC International’s funds.

Ad-hoc prosecutor Datuk V. Sithambaram agreed with Muhammad Shafee and said both sides will make use of the day to go through Ismee’s transcript before deciding on the next course of action.

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“We are looking are certain documents and contradictions and we think it’s best to decide the next course of action after looking at the transcript. This might take a bit of time,” he said.

After hearing both submissions, High Court judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali allowed the application and adjourned proceedings to 9am tomorrow.