1MDB: Court sets May 20 to hear Najib’s bid to seek bank documents

KUALA LUMPUR, March 26 ― The High Court here today has set May 20 to hear former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak's bid to seek 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.

When contacted by reporters, Deputy Public Prosecutor Mohamad Mustaffa P. Kunyalam said the date was fixed by Judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah during the mention of the case today.

“The court has ordered the prosecution to file their reply to Najib’s affidavit by April 26 and they (Najib) will need to file their reply to prosecution's affidavit on May 5,” he said adding that the court has also ordered for both parties to file their written submissions by May 17.

On March 24, Najib’s defence team led by Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah filed a notice of motion among others claiming 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 Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz.

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. ― Bernama