KUALA LUMPUR – A witness in the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) trial at the high court here today denied that the charges brought against former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak were defective.
Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission senior superintendent Nur Aida Arifin, 37, said this when being cross-examined by lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah during the corruption and money-laundering case involving RM2.3 billion belonging to 1MDB faced by Najib.
Shafee had suggested that the charges against Najib were flawed because a significant portion of documents via Mutual Legal Assistance (MLA) from Singapore were obtained only after the former prime minister was charged.
Shafee: Normally, does someone get charged only when investigators look at all the documents and are satisfied that they have a case?
Nur Aida: We made a request to the Singapore government to obtain those documents before Najib was charged.
The 49th prosecution witness said most of the documents via the MLA were obtained before the charges were brought against Najib.
“I only obtained documents from foreign authorities through MLA assistance later; however, there is no difference with the documents already in our possession,” she said.
Nur Aida said the deputy public prosecutor from the Attorney-General’s Chambers would handle different sets of MLA documents from various countries such as Hong Kong, Switzerland and Singapore.
“I was not involved when the said deputy public prosecutor received the relevant documents from abroad,” she said.
Najib, 70, is facing four charges of using his position to obtain bribes amounting to RM2.3 billion in 1MDB funds and 21 charges of money laundering involving the same amount.
The trial before judge Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah continues on Monday. – February 16, 2024