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Wednesday, 24 Jun 2020 01:53 PM MYT
BY EMMANUEL SANTA MARIA CHIN
KUALA LUMPUR, June 24 — The High Court here today allowed for amendments to be made by the prosecution to the charges levelled against former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and former 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) chief executive Arul Kanda Kandasamy, in their joint trial over the alleged tampering of a federal audit report on 1MDB.
Justice Mohamed Zaini Mazlan allowed the amendments after hearing submissions from all three parties, which took slightly longer than two hours to complete, adding how the changes applied within the charge would not cause prejudice to Najib as alleged by his lead counsel, Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah.
“Even if the amendments result in the goalposts being shifted, it will still remain within the pitch and they will still be able to aim their shots, and I am here to ensure they will be given every ample opportunity to mount their defence.
“In the abundance of caution, there is a right to recall and reexamine again any of the prosecution witnesses and I am confident the defence will have ample time to prepare their defence and I will ensure they are not put at a disadvantage.
“I find that the amendment does not cause any prejudice to the accused and this application is therefore allowed,” Mohamed Zaini said when reading out his brief judgment this afternoon.
The amendments within charges involved changing the words ‘disediakan’ (prepared) to ‘dimuktamadkan’ (finalised), while adding the word ‘semula’ (again), which applies to both Najib and Arul Kanda’s charge.
Najib’s altered charge now reads;
“That you between February 22, 2016, and February 26, 2016, at the Prime Minister’s Department, the administrative centre of the federal government, within the Federal Territory of Putrajaya, as a civil servant, that is the Prime Minister of Malaysia and Finance Minister of Malaysia had used your position to receive self-gratification, as protection from civil or criminal action concerning your role in the handling of operations of the company 1MDB, by the action of instructing that the 1MDB Auditor’s Report that was finalised by the Auditor-General (A-G) be amended as contained within Annexe A before the report was finalised again and presented to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC),” reads the new charge, with the amended words indicated in bold.
Identical changes were applied to Arul Kanda’s charge sheet as well.
Following Mohamed Zaini’s judgment, the new charges were then read out again to both Najib and Arul Kanda, where they acknowledged to the court that they understood the amendments which were made and again claimed trial.
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No delays, 1MDB audit report trial to begin on Monday
KUALA LUMPUR: Najib Razak’s trial at the High Court for allegedly tampering with 1MDB’s audit report will begin on Monday as scheduled after judge Mohamad Zaini Mazlan refused to allow the prosecution’s application to adjourn the case to a later date.
“If I were to vacate the present trial dates, I would be hard pressed to find alternative dates,” Zaini said during case management today.
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Najib is accused of using his position to obtain immunity from legal action in relation to allegations that he tampered with the 1MDB audit report between Feb 22 and 26, 2016.
The offence was said to have taken place at the Prime Minister’s Office in Putrajaya.
Former 1MDB CEO Arul Kanda Kandasamy was charged with abetting Najib in tampering with the report before it was tabled to the Public Accounts Committee.
The hearings before Sequerah scheduled for today and tomorrow were postponed as both Shahrol and Najib’s lead counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah were unwell.
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14 March 2019
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High Court to hear 1MDB audit tampering case
The Kuala Lumpur High Court has ruled that it will hear the trial against former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak and 1MDB president Arul Kanda Kandasamy’s for allegedly tampering with an audit report on the company.
Judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali allowed the prosecution to transfer the case from the Sessions Court during pre-trial proceedings. Lawyers for the accused did not object to the prosecution’s request.
Najib and Arul were initially charged separately on Dec 12 last year.
Najib was charged with receiving gratification in the form of protection from ethical, civil or criminal actions against him as a public officer in relation to 1MDB, by ordering the alteration of the draft audit report before it was presented to the Public Accounts Committee.
The offence was allegedly committed by Najib between Feb 22 and 26, 2016, at the Prime Minister’s Department in Putrajaya.
Arul, meanwhile, was charged with abetting Najib in the offence, on the same day and time.
Both will be tried together over the alleged tampering after the Sessions Court judge Azura Alwi, on Jan 4, granted the prosecution’s request to have a joint trial.
https://www.malaysiakini.com/news/467850
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youtube.com
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https://www.malaysia-chronicle.com/?p=159785
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The charging of the former Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak and former 1MDB Chief Executive Officer Arul Kanda Kandasamy with tampering of the Auditor-General’s 1MDB report in 2016 has highlighted the role of the PAS leadership in aiding and abetting the 1MDB corruption and money-laundering scandal.
In April 2017, the PAS Central Working Committee publcily gave approval to the 1MDB CEO Arul Kanda who briefed it for more than two hours about the 1MDB.
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