.jpg "Lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah is pictured at the Kuala Lumpur High Court March 9, 2020. u00e2u20acu201d Picture by Firdaus Latif")
KUALA LUMPUR, March 14 — Lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah has tested negative for Covid-19.
Astro Awani reported that he had shared the news with it via text message.
Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) trial was postponed last week after Shafee, who is his lead counsel, and the rest of the defence team went into self-quarantine.
On Thursday, High Court Judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah was informed by lawyer Noor Farhah Mustaffa, representing Shafee, that a member of Shafee’s family had been into close contact with a co-worker who tested positive for Covid-19.
The 1MDB trial is expected to resume on Thursday and Friday next week, subject to the outcome of Covid-19 tests that were also conducted on the rest of the defence team as well as the prosecution.
The High Court had previously fixed trial dates from March 19 to 20, 23 to 27 and 30 to 31 (inclusive of Fridays), the entire month of April, May 4 to 8, 11 to 15 and 18 to 22 (inclusive of Fridays), as well as June until October (inclusive of Fridays).
On trial dates that fall on Fridays when Muslims must perform mandatory prayers, Sequerah had previously said proceedings would be adjourned earlier at noon.
Najib’s 1MDB case related to over RM2 billion of 1MDB funds involves 25 charges, namely four counts of power abuse and 21 counts of money laundering.
