KUALA LUMPUR – The 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) trial involving Datuk Seri Najib Razak took a sudden turn today after the prosecution team submitted its application to amend three of the 25 charges against the former prime minister.
According to court documents made available to Scoop, the prosecution was seeking to amend one charge for abuse of power and two charges for money laundering.
During the court proceedings, today, deputy public prosecutor Kamal Bahrin Omar informed judge Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah that the amendments were necessary in light of Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) analyst Adam Ariff Roslan’s testimony.
The witness had told the court earlier that he had traced a sum of RM45.8 million from a RM975 million loan taken by 1MDB transferred into Najib’s account.
As such, the prosecution aims to amend the quantum of gratification stated in the fourth abuse of power charge from RM49.9 million to RM45.8 million.
Prosecutors were also seeking to amend the quantums stated in the 10th and 21st charges for money laundering, from RM652.6 million to RM515.7 million, and from RM12.4 million to RM11.4 million, respectively.
The amendments to the two charges was proposed following the testimony of investigating officer Foo Wei Min.
On the other hand, Najib’s counsel Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah objected to the proposed amendments, stating that it could lead to serious implications for the defence’s case and requested the judge to allow his team to prepare its response.
Sequerah subsequently allowed the bid for hearing of the charge amendment application to resume tomorrow.
Najib was charged with 25 counts of abuse of power and money laundering involving alleged 1MDB funds totalling RM2.28 billion which was deposited into his AmBank accounts between February 2011 and December 2014. – October 24, 2023