KUALA LUMPUR – The prosecution in Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) trial told the high court here today that it will be calling at least four more witnesses to testify, including former 1MDB’s general counsel Jasmine Loo Ai Swan.
Deputy public prosecutor Ahmad Akram Gharib said apart from Loo, the other witnesses are Bank Negara Malaysia’s analysts, two investigating officers from the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), and police.
He said this when the trial judge, Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah, asked the prosecution about the number of witnesses it plans to call when the 46th prosecution witness, former Bank Negara governor Zeti Akhtar Aziz, concludes her testimony.
On July 12, Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail confirmed that Loo had been arrested by police on July 7 in order to assist with the investigation into the misappropriation of 1MDB funds.
Today, Najib’s lead counsel, Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, told the court that he wanted to reserve cross-examining Zeti.
He made the request (reserve cross-examining) after Zeti testified that she met former AmBank group managing director Ashok Ramamurthy once after he took over the position when Cheah Tek Kuang introduced him to her during a courtesy call.
Zeti denied Shafee’s assertions that Ashok had sent her updates on Najib’s account.
She repeated her previous testimony that she told Cheah during their first meeting in 2011 that anything else with regard to Najib’s account should be directed to the then-BNM deputy governor.
At this juncture, Shafee made an application to judge Sequerah to ask for an alleged statement recorded by the MACC from Ashok in Singapore.
The counsel then said he would want the cross-examination of Zeti to end there, pending his application.
“My Lord, I would like to question the investigating officer on this alleged statement. I also want to recall Cheah,” he said.
To this, Akram interjected, saying he was not aware of such a statement “formally or informally” at this moment as Ashok is not even one of the witnesses considered by the prosecution before the charges were preferred in this trial.
The judge then asked Zeti to return to court later.
Najib, 70, faces four charges of using his position to obtain bribes amounting to RM2.3 billion belonging to 1MDB and 21 charges of money laundering involving the same amount.
The trial continues tomorrow. – August 29, 2023