KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 10 — Former education minister Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid today identified the voices of former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and the latter’s wife Datin Seri Rosmah in an audio clip that was played in the court today.
Testifying as the fifth prosecution witness in Rosmah’s bribery trial, Mahdzir was today asked to identify a male voice and a female voice that was heard in an excerpt of the audio clip which featured the phrase “Can I advise you something?”.
Lead prosecutor Datuk Seri Gopal Sri Ram had asked Mahdzir whether he would be able to recognise the voices of Najib and Rosmah.
Mahdzir, who had been a member of Umno for decades and had been a deputy minister in 2013 before becoming an education minister in 2015, confirmed that he had as a member of the administration dealt with Najib multiple times.
Sri Ram: If I were to play a recording, would you be able to identify his voice?
Mahdzir: Recording? Yes, can.
Sri Ram: What about the accused Rosmah, are you familiar with her voice?
Mahdzir: Familiar, just that I seldom meet her.
Sri Ram: Can you identify her voice?
Mahdzir: Can identify.
Sri Ram then asked to play an excerpt from a compact disc containing the audio clip, but this was objected to by Rosmah’s lawyers.
After hearing arguments from Rosmah’s lawyers against the playing of the audio clip and Sri Ram’s arguments, High Court judge Mohamed Zaini Mazlan allowed the audio clip to be played.
After the audio clip was played briefly, Mahdzir identified the first voice which was a male voice as belonging to Najib, while identifying the next voice saying “Can I advise you something” as belonging to Rosmah. The clip was only played briefly.
Earlier, Rosmah’s lawyers objected to the recording being played, due to issues such as the content being unknown as no transcript of the recording was available and arguing that the judge should rule on whether the recording was admissible or relevant or the weight it should have as evidence.
Sri Ram had however explained that the purpose of playing the audio clip was only to have Mahdzir verify the voices in the recording, and not to confirm the authenticity of the clip’s contents.
“We intend to adduce this evidence through the investigation officer, the actual proper recording. The purpose at this stage is just to enable the witness to identify voices, merely that,” Sri Ram said when explaining that the investigation officer would be called subsequently as a witness later on during the course of this trial.
Sri Ram added that the prosecution had today provided the CD to Rosmah’s lawyers and that the prosecution had no objection to the defence team taking the time to examine the CD contents and also said the defence lawyers were entitled to reserve cross-examination of Mahdzir on the voice identification.
“When it comes to the genuineness of content, they can cross-examine the investigation officer. So merely to identify voices, so it is not catching anyone by surprise. It’s only to show that this took place between two persons and this witness is to identify voices,” he said.
Rosmah’s lawyers kept protesting, but the judge said he would allow the audio clip to be played expressly for the purpose of voice identification and that he would only make a ruling on its authenticity at the end of the case.
The judge also said Rosmah’s lawyers may recall Mahdzir as a witness regarding the audio clip if required.
Rosmah’s lawyer, Datuk Jagjit Singh, did not relent and voiced concern that playing the clip now would cause it to be reported in the news and entered in the notes of evidence when its admissibility was not yet determined.
This did not convince the judge.
“I’m not concerned about trial by media, I’m concerned about trial in my court,” Mohamed Zaini said before allowing the recording to be played.
The trial resumes tomorrow morning.
