Najib seeks bank documents for his 1MDB case

KUALA LUMPUR, March 24 —  Former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak is seeking a court order to compel the prosecution to produce several banking statements and other documents to his defence team in his RM2.3 billion 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) case.

In the notice of motion filed today at the High Court by his defence team led by Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, Najib among others claimed that the documents were under the custody of prosecution or other entities.

In an affidavit affirmed by Najib, 67, to support his application, the Pekan MP said the documents were vital and relevant to his 1MDB trial as it was not made available to his defence team before his case began.

According to the affidavit, Najib claimed that some of the statements and documents were linked to the companies believed to be related to fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho or Jho Low and the family of former Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) governor Tan Sri Zeti Akhtar Aziz.

“Zeti is listed as a witness in the 1MDB trial. As such, the bank documents are very relevant to my defence and the cross-examination of Zeti and other prosecution witnesses pertaining to her credibility and her independence as she was the former Governor of Bank Negara relevant to the period in relation to my charges,” he said.

Najib added that the suppression of the bank documents has the effect of misrepresenting the truth and is a breach of his fundamental liberties as enshrined in the Federal Constitution and his right to a fair trial and equal before the law, as stated under Article 5 and Article 8 of the Federal Constitution.

In the notice of motion, among the documents he sought from the prosecution were bank account statements for Aktis Capital Singapore Pte Ltd, Country Group Securities Public Company Ltd, ACME Time Ltd (BVI), Butamba Investments Ltd, and Central Holdings Ltd.

Apart from bank statements, Najib is also seeking the companies’ certificate of incumbency, declarations of the identities of the companies’ beneficial owners, registers of members, registers of directors as well as correspondence between the banks and the companies in respect of its transactions, including emails, telegraphic transfers, remittance forms, payment advice, transaction reports, payment orders, credit advice and bank memos.

The application compels the revelation of the documents from the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) and BNM, or any other entities having custody of the documents.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Ahmad Akram Gharib, when contacted, confirmed the prosecution has received a copy of the application. Justice Collin Lawrence Sequerah set March 26 for mention.

For 1MDB’s trial, Justice Sequerah told parties that the court intends to continue the trial in April if Najib’s appeal over the SRC International Sdn Bhd case did not take place at the Court of Appeal.

He then fixed April 19 to 22 for the 1MDB trial to resume in the event of the appeal hearing being vacated. — Bernama