KUALA LUMPUR – The High Court has postponed Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) trial following the two weeks Full Movement Control Order (FMCO) or total lockdown.
The RM2.28 billion misappropriation of funds proceeding is expected to resume on 21 June before High Court Judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah.
Deputy Public Prosecutor, Akram Gharib said, the proceeding was supposed to resume yesterday. However, due to the nationwide total lockdown, the court had to postpone the trial.
“The trial will resume on 21 June,” he said briefly.
Earlier, Chief Justice Tun Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat had ordered all case management, including all trial, civil and criminal cases that require physical presence to be postponed until the completion of FMCO.
The former Prime Minister is facing four power abuse charges for obtaining gratification amounting to RM2.3 billion from 1MDB funds and 21 counts of money-laundering involving the similar amount of funds.
Should the proceeding went on as scheduled, defence counsel Wan Aizuddin Wan Muhammed was scheduled to conduct cross-examination of the 10th prosecution witness, Mohd Hazem Abdul Rahman, 49, who is also a former Chief Executive Officer of 1MDB.
Last week, Najib, who is also the Member of Parliament of Pekan requested to postpone the proceeding after getting a medical leave for seven days for his eye surgery two weeks ago. –MalaysiaGazette