Najib, Irwan Serigar’s RM6.6bil IPIC trial postponed to June 19
Published on: Tuesday, June 04, 2024
By: FMT
Former prime minister Najib Razak and ex-treasury secretary-general Irwan Serigar Abdullah are jointly charged with six counts of misappropriating RM6.6 billion in public funds involving payments to Abu Dhabi’s state-owned 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 postponed to June 19.
Lawyer K Kumaraendran, appearing for Irwan, informed the High Court here that the defence teams had not received a full set of the trial documents.
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“We can’t prepare our defences (without these documents),” he told Justice Jamil Hussin.
The court previously fixed 30 days between today and July 31 for trial.
Shafee Abdullah, representing Najib, told the court that the defence teams were informed by the prosecution that additional documents would be served on them today.
He also said that his team was engaged in preparing submissions following the close of the prosecution’s case in Najib’s 1MDB corruption trial. It is also handling the trial of SRC International’s ongoing lawsuit against the former prime minister.
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Deputy public prosecutor Saifuddin Hashim Musaimi said the prosecution had no objection to the request for postponement.
“I have to admit that there are many documents,” he added.
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He said the prosecution had been sending documents to both defence teams since 2018, and that certain additional documents would be handed over today.
Jamil agreed to grant the defence additional time to review the documents they would receive today.
“The trial will start on June 19,” he added.
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 unsuccessfully sought a discharge not amounting to an acquittal on account of the delay in bringing the case to trial.
Speaking today, Shafee suggested that the trial on Najib’s alleged abuse of power and money laundering of 1MDB funds could be concluded by 2026 if the former prime minister was ordered to enter his defence.
He said the court could “break up the dates” if it did not want to further delay the case.
“Otherwise, we will have to wait until 2025 as the 1MDB trial has taken up many dates and I am confident we can finish by 2026.”
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