Najib withdraws appeal for documents linked to Zeti, Jho Low
Published on: Friday, June 23, 2023
By:
FMT, V Anbalagan
Former prime minister Najib Razak is facing four charges of using his position to obtain bribes totalling RM2.3 billion from 1MDB funds.
PUTRAJAYA: In an unexpected turn of events, jailed former prime minister Najib Razak withdrew his Federal Court appeal for discovery of documents detailing companies controlled by former Bank Negara Malaysia governor Zeti Akhtar Aziz’s family and fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho, or Jho Low.
Lead counsel Shafee Abdullah told a three-member bench chaired by Justice Abang Iskandar Abang Hashim that the withdrawal was made without prejudice.
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“We will raise this matter during the ongoing 1MDB trial (in the High Court) and at appellate stages,” he said.
Shafee said the prosecution will not object to requests for the production of documents when witnesses give evidence during the trial.
Najib, who was present in court today, is facing four charges of using his position to obtain bribes totalling RM2.3 billion from 1MDB funds, and 21 charges of money laundering over the same amount.
Abang Iskandar, who sat with Justices Zabidin Diah and Zabariah Yusof, subsequently dismissed the appeal on the basis of the withdrawal, with the prosecution, led by deputy public prosecutor Kamal Baharin Omar, raising no objections.
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Outside court, Kamal told reporters that the prosecution had no objection to Najib requesting for the production of documents at trial but will argue the matter.
The 1MDB trial will resume on July 7 and Zeti is expected to take the stand as a prosecution witness.
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On Dec 8, the Court of Appeal dismissed Najib’s appeal and affirmed a decision handed down by the Kuala Lumpur High Court on July 12, 2021 refusing to order the discovery sought.
Justice Nordin Hassan, then an appeals court judge, said the documents were not relevant to the charges faced by the former prime minister in his ongoing 1MDB criminal trial.
He also said Najib was not entitled to obtain witness statements recorded by the police and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) during investigations because there was a danger of tampering.
Nordin also said former Goldman Sachs banker Tim Leissner’s mobile phone and password were not in the prosecution’s possession. In the circumstances, he said, the court would not act in vain.
Najib, 69, was appealing a High Court decision, which dismissed two discovery applications aimed at compelling the prosecution to disclose banking documents which would allegedly show Zeti’s family received money from Low.
He also wanted the prosecution to provide banking statements from several companies – including Aktis Capital Singapore Pte Ltd, Country Group Securities Public Company Ltd, Acme Time Ltd (BVI), Butamba Investments Ltd, and Central Holdings Ltd – believed to be related to the families of Low and Zeti.
The jailed former prime minister also filed another application seeking to obtain a confidential settlement agreement between the government and the Goldman Sachs Group in 2020, and transcripts of a forensic report on Leissner’s phones.
Najib is serving a 12-year prison term for embezzling RM42 million from SRC International, a 1MDB subsidiary. He was also fined RM210 million, which he has yet to pay.
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