KUALA LUMPUR, April 16 - Former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak is trying to compel Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Razarudin Husain to come to the High Court to testify as a defence witness in the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) trial, as he wants to ask the top police chief about former Goldman Sachs banker Roger Ng and ex-1MDB in-house lawyer Jasmine Loo.
But the Home Ministry today said it will apply to set aside the subpoena or court-issued summons, which Najib obtained in order to call the IGP to be a witness in his 1MDB trial.
Senior federal counsel Muhammad Ilmami Ahmad this morning informed the High Court that Najib’s lawyers had given the subpoena to the IGP on April 14, and said the Home Ministry currently does not know and was not informed why the IGP is being asked to be a witness in Najib’s defence.
Najib’s lawyer Wan Azwan Aiman Wan Fakhruddin then said the defence does not actually need to give a reason, but went on to argue that the IGP’s testimony would be relevant to his client’s case.
Wan Azwan Aiman said Najib’s lawyers have been actively trying to find Ng — who has been brought back to Malaysia after being convicted in US in relation to 1MDB — and noted that the IGP had previously said Ng was in police custody.
Among other things, Wan Azwan Aiman said it is currently unknown if Ng is still in police custody, and that the IGP would be a relevant witness in the 1MDB trial in order to find out where Ng is now.
He said Najib's lawyers want to interview Ng.
Wan Azwan Aiman said Najib's lawyers had on December 10 last year written to the attorney general, the IGP and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) chief to request to speed up arrangements for the defence to interview Ng.
He said the AG and MACC chief had responded, while the IGP has yet to respond.
He said the MACC chief had in a letter dated December 26 last year and received on January 6 this year replied to say that Ng is under the police and that his case is not under MACC.
Wan Azwan Aiman also argued it would only be fair if the IGP’s public statements on investigations relating to Loo and Ng are examined publicly in court, as those statements involve public interest.
He also said that Najib’s legal team wants the IGP to explain in court about the status of the three warrant of arrests previously issued by the court against Loo.
He said Najib's lawyers also want to ask the IGP about the status of the charges filed against Loo. The High Court previously heard that the charges were filed in 2018 to obtain the arrest warrants, and that Loo had not actually been charged.
Trial judge Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah then scheduled May 5 to hear the Home Ministry’s application to set aside the subpoena on the IGP to appear as a defence witness in Najib’s 1MDB trial.
Apart from the IGP, Najib had previously sought to get these individuals to come to court to testify as defence witnesses on subpoena, namely two of 1MDB's current company secretaries, the director of the Malaysian government’s witness protection programme, and Roger Ng.
Yesterday, Najib's lead defence lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah informed the High Court of a failed attempt to serve a subpoena to get Roger Ng to come and testify in the 1MDB trial, as the witness protection programme director refused to accept the subpoena on Ng.
Tomorrow, the High Court will hear the government's application to set aside both the subpoenas issued on the witness protection programme's director and on Ng.
Wan Azwan Aiman said the next defence witnesses are expected to be law firm Wong & Partners’ former partner Brian Chia Hock Gee who is scheduled to appear next Monday and former Deutsche Bank official Raymond Yeoh who is scheduled to appear next Tuesday.
He said Najib also intends to call in 1MDB's former investments director Kelvin Tan who is currently in Canada as a witness.
When Wan Azwan Aiman spoke of difficulties in serving a subpoena on witnesses who are overseas, the trial judge remarked: "But then you know, this court cannot be held on ransom to keep the trial open for when they decide at their convenience they want to come back, I won't be able to accommodate that. It's either they can come within the foreseeable future which is to me in the next few weeks, or you don't call them at all."
In explaining why the court should not be made to wait for these witnesses to decide when to come, the judge said that he was concerned about "inefficient use of judicial time" and said he was merely asking for assistance to bring the trial to a conclusion.
Wan Azwan Aiman replied that Najib's lawyers are trying very hard to do so and noted that 20 defence witnesses have been called so far within a few months.
Earlier, he said Najib's lawyers are "almost at the tail end of the defence's case".
More to come
