KUALA LUMPUR, August 9 — After 50 days of court hearings and various adjournments, the final prosecution witness will be called to the stand in Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s RM42 million SRC International Sdn Bhd trial at the High Court today.
Entering day 51, the 57th prosecution witness and Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) investigating officer Senior Assistant Commissioner Rosli Hussain, who spearheaded the investigation, is expected to take his oath and testify in front of High Court judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali at 10am.
With the prosecution stage now entering its final leg since Najib’s trial began on April 3, the cross-examination of Rosli by the defence team is expected to continue until August 15 when Najib's SRC International trial concludes.
Najib is represented by lawyers Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah and Harvinderjit Singh while ad hoc prosecutor Datuk V. Sithambaram leads the prosecution team.
The RM42m SRC International trial must conclude by August 15, as Najib’s 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) corruption trial is slated to begin on August 19.
Both prosecution and defence, however, have since filed appeals to delay the 1MDB trial, also known as the “Tanore” case on the grounds that the SRC International trial may not conclude by August 15.
After the prosecution rests its case, the High Court will then decide whether the prosecution had successfully established a prima facie case against the accused.
Attorney General Tommy Thomas had previously outlined what the prosecution aimed to prove in his opening speech here.
Should a prima facie case be established, Najib will be ordered to enter his defence on the corruption charges levelled against him and may also call his own set of witnesses to the stand.
If the prosecution fails to establish a prima facie case, the High Court can therefore acquit and discharge Najib without the need to call for defence.
Najib was charged on July 4, 2018 and August 8, 2018 at the Sessions Court with a total of seven charges over the RM42 million sum.
Out of the seven charges, Najib is accused of committing three counts of criminal breach of trust over a total RM42 million of SRC International funds while entrusted with its control as the prime minister and finance minister then, and a separate charge under an anti-corruption law of abusing the same positions for self-gratification of the same RM42 million sum.
The remaining three of the seven charges are for allegedly money-laundering the same total sum of RM42 million.
