KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 6 — The High Court today dismissed an application by the prosecution to impeach Datuk Seri Najib Razak for allegedly giving conflicting statements to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) and testimonies during the course of his corruption trial.
Judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali ruled that there were no material contradictions given by Najib after inspecting the witness statements in question, rejecting the need for impeachment proceedings.
“Having examined these statements, in my view, they are not irreconcilable because the apparent change in stand by the accused in the supplementary witness statement as to whether he had signed the exhibits or not is accompanied by his attempt to explain the basis for his earlier answers to MACC.
“As such I find that there are no material contradictions or serious discrepancies between the two statements as highlighted vis-à-vis the four exhibits.
“There is therefore no justification to pursue the impeachment process against the accused in respect of this specific application by the prosecution,” he said while delivering his verdict.
He also explained that the apparent contradiction as submitted by the prosecution was that whilst Najib had confirmed having signed the relevant exhibits to MACC, the latter’s supplementary witness statements said Najib could not confirm he had signed these exhibits and that he had told the recording officer that he had signed them because the signatures looked like his.
Mohd Nazlan then ordered the prosecution to continue its cross-examination of Najib who is currently on trial for siphoning RM42 million from the former 1MDB subsidiary and is testifying in his own defence.
Earlier today, ad hoc prosecutor Datuk V. Sithambaram applied to challenge the credibility of Najib’s testimonies provided to the MACC and the latter’s own testimonies given to court on the witness stand in regard to whether Najib had seen certain documents and signed them.
The application was made under Section 145(1) and Section 155(c) on the Evidence Act.
Under Section 155(c) of the Evidence Act, the credit of a witness may be impeached in the following ways by the adverse party or with the consent of the court or by the party who calls him by proof of former statements inconsistent with any part of his evidence which is liable to be contradicted.
According to Sithambaram, Najib had given conflicting statements to MACC and in court with regards to SRC International shareholders’ resolutions in three meeting minutes and a letter of instruction to AmBank the ex-PM allegedly signed which Najib had affirmed when asked if ‘there were serious and material contradictions’.
Najib has been called to enter his defence to answer seven charges related to SRC International.
Three are for 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, three more are for laundering the RM42 million, and the last is for abusing the same positions for self-gratification of the same sum.
