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KUALA LUMPUR – Former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak left Kajang Prison early today to be in the court complex here at 8.48am for the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) audit tampering trial at the high court.
His prison SUV transport was escorted by vehicles belonging to the police and Prison Department.
Today is his second appearance after being sent to prison on Tuesday when the Federal Court upheld his SRC International conviction, where he is sentenced to 12 years in jail and fined RM210 million.
His wife, Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor, is again at court to show support although she entered the complex via a side gate, avoiding the large group of photographers stationed at the main entrance.
Yesterday, he was at the high court here for the resumption of the 1MDB-Tanore trial, where he is charged with four counts of abuse of power in enriching himself with RM2.3 billion of 1MDB funds, and 21 counts of money laundering of the same amount.
The audit tampering trial was set to resume on August 18 but was pushed back as it clashed with Najib’s SRC International final appeal at the Federal Court in Putrajaya.
Deputy public prosecutor Mohamad Mustafa P. Kunyalam was reported as saying that the court had added October 21, 25, and 28 as new dates for the hearing, on top of September 2, which was fixed earlier.
Najib’s defence team is expected to cross-examine Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission investigating officer Haniff Lami and former 1MDB chief Arul Kanda Kandasamy.
Najib, 68, is charged with using his position to order amendments to the 1MDB final audit report before it was presented to the Public Accounts Committee to avoid action taken against him.
Arul Kanda, 45, is a co-accused in the case and was charged with abetting the former prime minister in making the amendments to the report.
Both of them were charged under Section 23 (1) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Act 2009, which provides for a jail term of up to 20 years and a fine of no less than five times the amount of gratification or RM10,000, whichever is higher, upon conviction. – The Vibes, August 26, 2022
