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KUALA LUMPUR – Former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s 1MDB audit report trial at the high court this afternoon was vacated and postponed to August 12 due to his defence counsel Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah’s illness.
Online portal Malaysiakini reported that apparently, the top Umno lawyer had been diagnosed with laryngitis, a medical condition in which the voice box or vocal cords in the throat become irritated or swollen.
“Yes, it has been vacated as Shafee (above) has laryngitis. The next trial date is August 12 (before trial judge Mohamed Zaini Mazlan),” said co-defence counsel Rahmat Hazlan when contacted by the media.
Deputy public prosecutor Mohamad Mustaffa P. Kunyalam also gave his confirmation on the matter when contacted.
This is not the first time that Shafee’s health had forced the court to vacate and postpone its proceedings.
On May 30, Rahmat had told the high court that Shafee was down with a fever and sore throat, which supposedly made him sound like “Sean Connery”.
Najib’s various 1MDB-linked corruption trials have already been postponed several times due to illnesses suffered by Najib, lawyers and witnesses.
In March 2019, Najib’s trial involving SRC International was postponed when Shafee told the court that he had fractured his hand after being pushed over by one of his guard dogs at his home.
In November 2019, in Najib’s separate 1MDB graft trial, Shafee and one of the prosecution’s witnesses called in sick, causing the trial to be adjourned.
In May 2021, Najib was on sick leave due to eye surgery, and his 1MDB corruption trial was postponed yet again.
Originally, Shafee was supposed to resume his cross-examination of former 1MDB CEO Arul Kanda Kandasamy, who had become the prosecution’s star witness.
Among his testimonies when he took the witness stand was that the original copy of the 1MDB audit report would have been sent to the Public Accounts Committee if there had been no alleged tampering of the document by Najib. – The Vibes, July 4, 2022