Najib, Irwan Serigar’s RM6.6bil trust breach trial to begin next June
Published on: Friday, September 15, 2023
By:
FMT, Ho Kit Yen
Najib Razak (left) and Irwan Serigar Abdullah are jointly charged with six counts of misappropriating RM6.6 billion in public funds involving payments to IPIC.
Kuala Lumpur: Najib Razak and Irwan Serigar Abdullah’s criminal breach of trust case involving payments of RM6.6 billion to International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC) has been fixed for trial over 30 days between June 4 and July 31 next year.
This comes after deputy public prosecutor Saifuddin Hashim Musaimi urged the High Court today to hear the case next year.
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Lawyers Shafee Abdullah and K Kumaraendran, representing Najib and Irwan, respectively, agreed to the suggestion.
Earlier, Kumaraendran had suggested that the case be heard in January as the CBT charges have been hanging over the head of former Treasury secretary-general Irwan for almost five years.
“He cannot leave the country and cannot proceed with any career advancement (because of the charges),” he said.
Shafee also called for the prosecution to take a stand on an alleged leaked memo regarding the case.
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He said the DPPs and investigating officers had claimed in the 2019 memo that the CBT charges brought against Najib and Irwan were “non-starters” and “hopeless”.
However, Kumaraendran disagreed, saying the court was not a proper forum to raise the matter.
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Saifuddin said he would not comment.
Shafee indicated that Najib’s defence team will call Tommy Thomas to testify, alleging that the former attorney-general was involved in an “abuse of process”.
In 2018, the former prime minister and Irwan were jointly charged with six counts of misappropriating RM6.6 billion in public funds involving payments to Abu Dhabi’s state-owned IPIC.
Their lawyers had in the past sought a discharge not amounting to an acquittal (DNAA) from the court on grounds that the trial never commenced.
However, the court dismissed the application, saying the prosecution was ready for the trial.
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